^^-- ^'^ 













^^ 


■^^ 




S '^' 


<^ 




-V C- 




\' 




^ -JS 








Vf' 


.^^^ 






^'^^ 






./ 


\ 






-^' 








o- .0" 




"<^ ■ ' ■ 


.'■ ^^ 


•-^ ^.. 




' ■^ 




"00^ 




- ""^A 


V^' 


^^^^ -''^^ 




X^^ ^^ 


o,^-- <■> 











<^- v^' 




^ "=>... 


0^ 


-i> 












"<', v^\^ 



■/• aA 



aX^' 



^'%. 








^^A 


V^' 






N^' 


^^. 


^ 


0^ 


^, 


" / 








ci 



'■■J' .<v 



V^^ 






-\~ 



■ o 



.^^" 












/x' 



.0 



A-^ ^V^C^' '^^. A, ^ 




Cyf^-.y'^^. 



TRAINING 



The Trotting Horse 



A NATUEAL AND IMPROVED METHOD OF 

EDUCATING TROTTING COLTS AND HORSES, BASED ON 
TWENTY YEARS EXPERIENCE. 

/ 

By CHARLES JV^ARVIN, 

SupeHntendent of Palo Alto Farm, Menlo Park, California. 

/ ILLUSTRATED. irn'RlGHr ^'SV 

^-^ l^ 'W' , ,VIAY I 1890 

' EDITED BY 

LESLIE E. MACLEOD, 
* 
ASSOCIATE EDITOR OF WALLACE'S MONTHLY, ETC, 



NEW YORK: 

THE MARVIN PUBLISHING COMPANY, Ltd. 
1890. 






Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1890 by 

MARVIN PUBLISHING CO., Ltd., 
in the office of the Libi-arian of Congress, Washington, D. C. 



[all rights reserved.] 



Chas. D. Sibley, Printer, 18 Rose Street, New York. 



i -o. 















'> V 






& 






.0-^ 



S^-%, 






O 






^^ .0^ 



-^• 






^vk;^ 



a- \ 









■-y 












-<>, .^^ 















-J>- 






'?,. ^ " O K ^ <^^ 



-0" 



o. 



•0' 






'^ 






O"^ '^ri 









c-'^ 

:^^- -..._ 



■"J- 









o 0' 



s, <^ ^ 









'•.# 






cV 






TO THE 

Honorable Leland Stanford, 

TO WHOSE GE>'IUS, THOUGHT AXD ENTERPRISE THE SYSTEM OF 

TRAINING EXPLAINED HEREIN IS MAINLY DUE, THIS 

WORK IS DEDICATED AS A SLIGHT TOKEN 

OF RESPECT AND GRATITUDE BY 

The Author. 



EDITOR'S PREFACE. 



Although the title page of this book is perhaps a 
sufficient preface, a word as to its origin and prepara- 
tion is due the reader. 

For pubUshing the book no apology is required. 
Whether it will till a " long-felt want" or not is for the 
public to decide; but that the want exists no one can 
doubt. 

AVhtit the Palo Alto system of training has accom- 
plished is the best guarantee of its excellence. The 
system under which are developed animals to break 
the world's record at all ages, from one year old to four 
years old, speaks for itself. In comiuon Avith many 
others, I have long recognized in Charles Marvin the 
greatest of trotting-horse trainers, or perhaps T should 
say educators. lie seemed ])eculiarly tlie genius of 
his profession. His friends reasoned that a book on 
training- was wanted — and wdio so fit to write it as the 
master trainer ? Mr. Marvin is a modest man, and it 
was only in deference to the repeated urging of his 
friends that he consented, with the assistance of an 
editor, to undertake the work. 



Yl EDITOR S TREFACE. 

In January, 1889, I visited Palo Alto for the pur- 
pose of assisting Mr. Marvin in the preparation of the 
material for this work ; and remained with him three 
months studying his methods by day, and writing from 
his dictation for several hours each evening. 

In preparing the book for the press the aim has been 
in the simplest and most faitliful phrase to record Mr. 
Marvin's ideas, instructions and explanations in his 
own plain manner. The endeavor has been to write a 
book in such simple and clear English that everv stable- 
boy who aspires to be a trainer may read understand- 
ingly ; and at the same time we hope that the breeders 
and the most intelligent trotting-horsemen of all classes 
in the land will find in its pages something of interest 
and of instruction. 

An apology is due the public for the dela}"" in pub- 
lishing the w^ork, and I wish to say that for that delay 
I am alone responsible. The work of preparing the 
material for the press was many times greater than I 
anticipated, and was a labor, but a pleasant one, under- 
taken in connection with other duties that of them- 
selves should sufficiently employ one man's time. Time, 
like the horses, seems to go faster in California tlian 
elsewhere. I cannot recall any period in life more 
pleasant than the three bright, delightful months of 
congenial work, congenial companionship and congenial 
surroundings at Palo Alto, and the days flew by on 
hurrying wings. Still the "raw material'- gathered 



EDITOK S PREFACE. VU 

in that time was quite voluminous, and the work of 
editing it called for an expenditure of time and labor 
which, I presume, no one can appreciate who has not 
tried his hand at the " making of books." 

I have to here cordially and thankfully acknowledge 
the assistance kindly afforded me by Mr. Ariel Lathrop 
(the manager of Senator Stanford's vast interests in 
California) in placing at my disposal plans, drawings, 
and other material for use herein. 

In the hope that this book may be welcomed into 
the libraries of the trotting-horse breeders and trainers 
of America, it is submitted to the public, not without a 
sense of its imperfections, nor 3"et without confidence 
that in it will be recognized sufficient merit to assure 
it a place among standard works on the trotting-horse. 

L. E. M. 

New Yoek City, April, 1890. 



IX 



LETTER FROM JOSEPH CAIRN SIMPSON. 



The following interesting letter is from the author 
of "Tips and Toe-Weights;" "Horse Portraiture," 
etc., and breeder and trainer of Anteeo, 2:16J, and 
Antevolo, 2:19^. 

Oakland, Cal., Feb. 7. 1890. 
Leslie E. Macleod, Esq. 

My Dear Sir : Agreeably to your request, I send this short 
letter, in relation to my opinion of Charles Marvin as an edu- 
cator and driver of trotters. It is always a pleasant task to me to 
write words of commendation when there is merit to warrant 
eulogistic phrases, and that Mr. Marvin presents a case exactly to my 
mind, those who are as well acquainted with him, his methods, 
and, above all, his strict honor and integrity, as I am, will concede. 

Personally, the acquaintance dates from Mr. Marvin's residence in 
California, though before I left the East, now nearly sixteen years 
ago, I had received letters which gave me an insight into his character 
and his ability as the handler of trotters. 

It will not be out of place to rehearse how that knowledge was 
obtained. In 1873, I was employed, by Charles Schv/artz and A. S. 
(iage, to take charge of Dexter Park, which those gentlemen had 
rented of Messrs. Sherman and Tucker. During the early summer 
I received several letters from the owner of Smuggler, giving full 
descriptions of the horse, his rapid improvement under the charge of 
Marvin, in fact, a minute account of whatever would be likely to 
interest a purchaser. As a "token of good faith" he offered to 
deposit, to my order, whatever funds were required for the expenses 
of the trip, remuneration to whoever made the journey, and if the 
truth of his statement was not fully endorsed by the facts, the funds 



X LETTER FROM JOSEPH CAIRN SIMPSON. 

provided should be drawn upon to cover the whole outlay. He par- 
ticularly referred to the trainer as a man worthy of the fullest confi- 
dence, and that this certificate of good character would be signed by 
all who were intimate with him. 

I was so strongly impressed with the evident candor of the writer 
that I urged Messrs. Schwartz and Gage to join me in the purchase. 
The price at that time was $6,000, and there was a good chance to 
" win him out " at the meeting, which was to be held in July. There 
was a partial agreement, and I was preparing to make the journey 
when something came in the way, and the preparations for the meet- 
ing, at which $40,000 were "hung up," engrossed my attention, and 
the idea of purchasing was abandoned. 

He was to show 2:30 or better, and only a few weeks previous to his 
first letter he was far behind that figure. Writing from memory I cannot 
state positively what the improvement was, though it certainly demon- 
strated that there were the best of grounds for believing that he was 
destined to become a very fast trotter. The history of Smuggler is 
so well known that there is no necessity for amplification, further 
than to call attention to the fact that Mr. Marvin took him Avhen he 
was regarded of " little account," and carried him through the whole 
of his education until he reached the summit of the temple of equine 
fame. 

I hold that the talent necessary to be a successful trainer of 
trotters, especially youngsters, is more rarely met than the same 
amount of ability as a driver in races. And there is another point 
worthy of consideration, that a man who has been eminently suc- 
cessful as a teacher rarely, if ever, fails to be a good driver in races, 
whereas some of the renowned knights of the sullvy are far from 
being in the front rank of the profession, or that part of it which, 
consists in carrying animals from the primary schools to the first 
place in the graduating classes. There is a great deal of nonsensical 
talk, and not a little arrant humbug in the learned disquisitions 
which are heard when race-driving is the topic. 

The jangle of words indulged in on such occasions would be amus- 
ing were it not that insidious comparisons, and, at times, malicious 
attacks are made by men who have small knowledge of the business, 
although their dogmatical assertions mislead people who are not con- 
versant with trotting affairs. Mr. Marvin is unquestionably a driver 
of the highest class, and it would be eminently a work of superero- 
gation to present long arguments to prove that he possesses that 
facultv. 



LKTTKK FROM .lOSKPH CAIRN SIISIl'SON. XI 

It may be considered equally useless to lay so mucli stress on 
his handling colts, as nearly every "best record" has been made 
by colts that he has trained, and driven to that record. The Avord 
" nearly " can be cancelled as in the foregoing sentence, as 
yearling, two-year-old and three-year-old are to his credit, as the last 
year of colthood, four years old, is a dead heat for place, and that he 
will "break the tie "in 1890 is just as certain as anything of that 
nature can be foretold. Nothing so convincing as success. Argue 
as we may, present evidence ])iled upon testimony to prove that 
results should never have followed the practices which brought the 
desired return. Success is mightier than theories, however plausible. 
But granting that the proof of both educating ability and race-driv- 
ing ability in Mr. iNIarvin, as shown by the records, is so strong that 
a mere statement is all that is necessary, it will be in keeping to 
consider the elements which entitle him to the rank I have conferred. 
The case instanced, that of Smuggler, is a good beginning ; his sub- 
sequent victories overshadow that, and, as there is constant pro- 
gression on his part, it is manifest that he has been educating himself 
as well as the renowned colts which have been his pupils. 

Although I have never questioned Mr. Marvin on this point, from 
what is known it is a fair inference that the system formerly pursued 
was similar to that in vogue, and which was practiced by the best 
trainers of the period. 

At Palo Alto there were startling innovations, "established 
methods " ruthlessly cast aside, and in place of pursuing systems, 
endorsed by such a number of professors that only a shadow of a 
minority questioned the practices, new ideas prevailed, Mr. Mar- 
vin had sense enough to understand, and wisdom to follow advice 
which had the backing of sound sense. It may seem singular to 
those who are not intimately acquainted with the training of horses, 
especially fast harness-horses, that there should be any hesitancy in 
accepting advice from owners, or other qualified persons, but those 
who have had the experience will agree with me, that very many 
trainers appear to regard suggestions as an implication of ignorance, 
and resent it in some w^ay. I have frequently heard the Palo Alto 
system of training commented upon by trainers, and by those which it 
takes a good deal of courtesy to include in that list, and the latter 
named class particularly prone to denounce the departures. 

As an illustration of the prevailing dislike to "obey orders," when 
the management of horses is the theme, during Mr. Marvin's absence 



Xll LETTEK FROM JOSEPH CAIKN SIMPSON. 

in tbe East it was found necessary to put hurdles across the track to 
compel that the work should be limited to short brushes. That Mr. 
Marvin was not imbued with such silly notions was fortunate all 
around. Fortunate for Governor Stanford to get a man who could 
understand what he wanted done, and with ability to execute ; 
fortunate for himself by being placed in a position where his talents 
could be shown ; fortunate for the horse interests of California, and, 
for that matter, for the whole country, by introducing methods of 
management which had been tested by the only true formula, years 
of patient, indefatigable work. Results have not been confined to 
" beating the record " so freqviently. Nor has the limit been reached 
when the many races he won are brought together. Horses bred at 
Palo Alto are prominent in every State which pays much attention to 
the breeding of fast trotters. Celebrated at home and abroad, for 
qualities which are prized by purchasers, they find ready sale at 
prices which, a few years ago, would have been regarded as far 
beyond the value of any horse. And these values have not been 
confined to a few of the produce of sires and dams still owned at Palo 
Alto. 

Fifty-one thousand, fifty thousand, twenty thousand dollars, and 
Avith a number more, ranging from five to twenty thousand dollars, 
money actually paid, is the best proof of their market value. Large 
offers reported are delusive. It is ea.sy to make offers which have 
prearranged refusals for a basis, and which carry small influence 
Avith close observers ; but money paid and animals transferred pre- 
clude all ideas of humbug, and is a stamp of merit which rabid 
jealousy cannot successfully impugn. 

Next to Governor Stanford, Mr. Marvin must be credited with 
bringing about this result. As stated previously, the willingness to 
learn is one of the most praiseworthy traits in his character. 

Relinquishing old and firmly-set habits is a difficult task, and to 
give up cherished ideas a mark of intelligence. 

Before being competent to teach, a man must have been a impil. 
After having passed through one educational course, it is still more 
difficult to cast aside the lessons of that, and practice what previous 
teachings had classed in the category of errors. 

Then, too, it must be borne in mind that when Mr. Marvin became 
the pupil of Governor Stanford, the course marked out was com- 
paratively untried. There had been, perhaps, an approximation to 
the systems inaugurated at Palo Alto, but without a in-actical test 



LETTER FROM JOSEPH CAIRN SIMPSON. Xlll 

approaching tlie magnitude of what was contemplated by his 
employer. 

No one had preceded him in carrying out the designs on the 
trestle hoard, and I again repeat that it was fortunate to every 
one concerned that he was the first. 

In recalling the many educators of trotters I have known, there is 
not another who was so well fitted for the place. 

To give my reasons for this opinion would demand more space 
than is permissible in this letter, and there is little require- 
ment for elaborate arguments when subsequent facts are taken into 
consideration. Much is subsequent to the time when Mr. Marvin 
took his residence at Palo Alto ; and, from 1880, when Fred Crocker 
lowered the two-year-old record to 2:25^, until 1889, when Sunol 
smashed the three-year-old, and made the marvelous mark of 2:10^, 
there have been a succession of victories, an unparalled array of 
events to prove that the most sanguine expectations were justified, 
and that reasons for holding the opinion advanced are superfiuous. 

Truly yours. 

Jos. Cairn Simpson. 



List of Horses to WMcli Cliarles Marylii &aye Eecoris. 



yunol, three-year-old 2:101 

Sunoi, two-vear-old 2:18 

Palo Alto. .' 2:12i 

Palo Alto, four-year-old 2:20J 

Smuggler 2:15J 

Mauzanita, four-year-old 2:16 

Manzanita, tliree-year-old 2:23i 

Manzanita, two-year-old 2:25 

Sallie Benton, four-year old 2:17f 

Bonita, four-year-old 2:18f 

Bonita, two-year old 2:24j 

Hinda Rose, three-year-old 2:19+ 

Hinda Rose, yearling 2 :36i 

Tucker ." 2:19i 

Alfred G., four-year-old 2:19| 

Elaine 2:20 

Ansel 2:20 

Express 2:21 

Sport 2:22f 

Lorita 2:22f 

Maiden, three-year-old 2:23 

Abe Edgington 2:23J 

Rexford, three-year-old 2:24 

Alban " 2:24 

Carrie C. , four-year-old 2:24 

Clifton Bell, four-year-old 2:24^ 

Sphinx, four-year-old 2:24-| 

Aznioor 2 :24^ 

St. Bel, four-vear-old 2:24+ 

Arol '. 2 :24 

Clay 2:25 

Fred Crocker, two-year-old 2:25J 

Carlisle " 2:26i 

Marion 2:26t 

Whips .2:27i 

Cubic 2:27i 

Enialine 2:27^ 

Pedlar, two-vear-old 2:27i 

Clay ■. 2:28 

Palo Alto Belle, two-year-old 2:28+ 

Capt. Smith " 2:29 

jjgggx 2 -29 

Ella, two-yeaV-old * .' .' .' .' .'. '. ". '. '. '. '. '. '. '. . .... '. '. '. '....'.'. .....2 :29 

Albion. . .'. 2:29 

Del Mar, two-year-old 2:30 

Norlaine, yearling 2:31+ 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Page. 

Portrait of Charles Marvin .frontispiece. 

Smuggler 59 

Portrait of Hon. Leland Stanford {facing) 82 

\iE.\\ OF Palo Alto Stables and Track {facing) 90 

Diagram of Palo Alto Stables and Track 93 

HiNDA Rose {facing) 123 

St. Bel (facing) 127 

Manzanita (facing) 149 

Palo Alto (facing) 154 

Norlaine (facing) 167 

SuNOL .(facing) 177 

Diagram A — Covered Training-Paddock 198 

Diagram B— Training-Paddock 199 

Boots 264, 265 

Palo Alto Shoe 276 

Electioneer (facing) 321 



XVII 



CONTENTS. 



Pagb. 
Biographical Sketch of the Author 17 

CHAPTER I. 

Wliy tlie Book is Written — A Profession Without Teacliers or 
Text-Books — Our System of Training Original — Order of tlie 
Work — Early Experiences With Horses — My First Trotters — 
Dan, the Chestnut Saddle-Horse — Clipper — Rutland Girl — 
George — Sealskin and Olive Dunton — The Great Smuggler. . . .28 

CHAPTER II. 

The Great Smuggler — His Origin and Blood — How He was 
Named — Given Marvin to Train — How Smuggler was Con- 
verted to Trot — Weight - Carrying — Success at Last, and 
Rapid Improvement — Fast Trials and Sale of Smuggler to 
Colonel Russell — The Great Race at Buffalo, Won by Thomas 
JefEerson — Adverse Criticism of "The Western Hoosier" 33 

CHAPTER III. 

Smuggler " Under the Weather" — A Famous Springfield Black- 
smith Gets at Him — He Wins His First Race, Defeating 
W^ellesley Boy — George Wilkes' Compliment — He Wins the 
Great Stallion Race at Boston— Record 2:30—1875 An Off 
Year — Judge Fullerton Defeated and the Stallion Record 
Lowered to 2:17 44 



XVlll CONTENTS. 

Page. 
CHAPTER IV. 

The Great Race with Goldsmith Maid — The Details of the Most 
Memorable Race of the Centennial Year — A Close Call — " S. 
T. H. 's " Graphic Description 54 

CHAPTER V. 

The Free for- All Battles Down the Line — From Cleveland to 
Springfield — Great Race at Hartford — 1877 a Poor Year for 
Smuggler — Taken to California — Breaks Down in the Spring 
of 1878 and Sent Home — Good-by to Smuggler 73 

CHAPTER VI. 

First Visit to Palo Alto — Sketch of Its Illustrious Founder and 
Proprietor, Leland Stanford — His Genius as a Horseman, His 
Pure Character, and His Munificent Charities — The History 
of Palo Alto in Brief Outline — A Scientific Demonstration of 
the Positions of Animals in Motion 81 

CHAPTER VII. 

History of Palo Alto Continued— First Trials of the Palo Alto 
System Unsuccessful — Reasons Therefor — Some General 
Observations on Training and Trainers — Occident and Abe 
Edgington Campaigns Briefly Ovitlined from 1878 to 1889 — 
The Great Campaign of 1886— Plans for 1888 Frustrated by 
Fire — Further Successes 96 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Sketches of Famous Animals Trained at Palo Alto— The Stars of 
Ten Years Ago— Occident the First Horse to Beat 2:17 — The 
Strange History of His Sire— Old St. Clair— Abe Edgington — 
The Half-Brothers, Clay and Capt. Smith— The Great Mare 
Elaine, ? -20- Fred Crocker, the First Palo Alto Record- 
Breaker 107 



CONTENTS. XIX 

Page. 
CHAPTER IX. 

The Great Trio,^Vildflower, Bonita and Hinda Rose — Wildflower, 
the Two- Year-Old Champion of Her Day — Bonita a Great 
Two- Year-Old and Champion Four- Year-Old — Hinda Rose, 
Champion Yearling and Champion Three- Year-Old of Her 
Time — Her Great Campaign of 1883 — How She was Shod 
and Balanced — The Career of the Fastest Y'oung Trotters 
that Had Yet Been Produced — A Story of Record-Breaking 
by Palo Alto Colts — Hinda Rose's Famous Brother, St. Bel — 
His Pure Gait and His Resolute Performances 118 



CHAPTER X. 

The Great Four- Year-Olds of 1886 — Manzanita and Palo Alto— 
The Breeding, Training and History of Manzanita — The 
Memorable Three-Year-Old Battles of 1885 — Manzanita Beats 
Patron, Silverone, Eagle Bird and Greenlander at Chicago — 
The Smart Men Discover a "Quitter" and Pay for the In- 
formation — The Memorable Race for the Gasconade Stakes 
at the St. Louis Fair — Patron Wins Through Bad Starting — ■ 
A Great Stable in 1886 132 



CHAPTER XI. 

Manzanita as a Four- Year-Old — A Race Lost by Laying Up 
Heats — She Starts Against a Great Field of Aged Horses at 
Cleveland — Lowers the Four-Year-Old Record to 2:16^^ — Beats 
Eagle Bird Easily at Maysville — Defeats Greenlander at Lex- 
ington — The Four- Year-Old Record Lowered to 2:16 — Win- 
ning from Greenlander and Haverstick in a Jog — The Glori- 
ous Victory at the St. Louis Fair Over Patron — The Defeat 
of 1885 Wiped Out, and Manzanita's Superiority as the 
Greatest of Four- Year-Olds Established — Her Retirement — 
Her Great Qualities as a Race-Mare 143 



XX CONTENTS. 

Pagb. 
CHAPTER XII. 

Palo Alto, tlie Son of the Thorouglibred Mare Dame Winnie — 
His Early Promise — The Name of " Palo Alto" Entrusted to 
Him to Uphold — Almost a Clean Sweep in His Class in 1886 — 
Beating Aged Campaigners in Long Races — Only One De- 
feat and Eight Victories — Narrow Escape from Death by 
Fire — The Brilliant Campaign of 1889 — Invincible and Un- 
beaten—Record 2:12i 154 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Sudie D. Takes the Yearling Honors to Kentucky for a Brief 
Season — Norlaine, the Champion Yearling — Her Training — 
She Breaks Sudie D.'s Record in 2:3U— Norval, 2:17i, Her 
Sire — Sallie Benton, 2:17|, the Champion Four- Year-Old of 
Her Day— Helen, 2:22|- Sphinx, 2:28— Bell Boy, 2:19^— 
Chimes and Suisun — Other Stars 164 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Sunol, the Phenomenal Trotter of the Nineteenth Century — Her 
Breeding and Her Form — Her Temper and Nervous Organi- 
zation — Her First Lessons — Training on to Greatness — Details 
of How She was Worked — Wins Her First Race — Lowering 
the Two-Year-Old Record to 2:20^ — Lowering It Again to 
2:18— The Winter of 1888-9— A List of Brilliant Perform- 
ances—Champion Three- Year-Old of the World— 2:10i 173 

CHAPTER XV. 

A Chapter on Early Training — The Subject Considered in Various 
Phases — Hiram Woodruff and His Day — The Advance Since 
Then — Trotters Now Come to their Speed Early — The Preju- 
dice Against Early Training Passing Away — A Practical 
Necessity With Breeders Who Breed for Profit — Time that 
Means Money — The Benefits of Early Training are Lasting — 
It Must Not Be Overdone — The Past and Present Con- 
trasted 182 



CONTENTS. XXI 

Page. 
CHAPTER XVI. 

The First Days of the Colt's Life — Weaning Time — Feeding Colt 
and Dam — Haltering and Learning to Lead — The Benefits of 
Companionship — The " Kindergarteii " — The Evolution of 
the Training-Paddock — Plans and Directions — The Colt's 
First Lesson in Training to Trot 193 



CHAPTER XVn. 

Working on the Miniature Track — The Daily Performance — 
Amount of Work Given — It Must Not Be Excessive— The 
Colt's Confidence to be Retained — Hitching — Working with 
a Runner — An Unnatural Method of Training — Balance and 
Stride — The Benefit of the Training Paddock — Developing 
Speed, Wind and Muscle Naturally 203 



CHAPTER XVin. 

Young Colts to be Liberally Fed — Colts Can Be Safely Worked 
Twice a Day if Necessity Requires It — Breaking to Harness — 
The Bitting Rig — Learning to Go by the Rein — In Double 
Harness First — Then in Single Harness — Skeleton Wagon 
Before Sulky — Find Out What You are Going to Do Before 
You Try to Do It — Adopt a Programme — The Necessity of 
Keeping the Gait Square and Preserving the Natural Bal- 
ance. 211 



CHAPTER XIX. 

First Work in Harness — Sharp Brushes — Avoid Jogging, Sweat- 
ing and Scraping — The Colt Must Be Kept Strong and Stout — 
Colts Cannot All Be Worked Alike — Imitation — All Depends 
on the Trainer's Fitness — An Occasional Let-Up — "Speed, 
Speed, More Speed," the Great Essential — Shoes and 
Weights — Experience with Chimes and Clay 220 



XXll CONTENTS. 

Page. 
CHAPTER XX. 

Weiglit in tlie Sboe — Use and Abuse — The Last Resort — When 
Weight is Needed — Reducing — Value and Necessity of Early 
Work — Early Training Necessary for Highest Results at 
Maturity — In Accord with Science — The 111 Effects of Neg- 
lected Education — A Case in Point — A Valuable Mare 
Ruined — Work Few Miles, if Any — The Mouth — Checking 
and Driving — The Colt Not to Be Controlled by Main 
Strength — To Drive with "a Silken Thread" — Light 
Hands — No Breaking if Possible — Catching — The Whip — 
Side Pulling 338 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Climatic Conditions— The Track-Work of the Three- Year-Old — 
The Speed-Making Brushes — Speed Wins Races — Mauzanita 
and Patron — Brush at Different Places on the Track — Stop- 
ping at Spots and Its Remedy — Amount of Work Given — 
Working Twice a Day when Necessary — Another Caution 
Against Overdoing It — A Tired Horse Ripe for Break-Down — 
The Error of Persistently Dri\'ing Fast Miles — Working 
Mature Horses — Work Differs Only in Degree — Excessive 
Reduction — Condition — Peculiarities to Be Studied 2S8 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Stables and Stabling — Palatial Stables Not Necessary — The 
Prime Essentials Cleanliness, Air and Light — Large and 
Small Barns — Advantages or the Latter — Roomy Boxes — 
Flooring — Clay Floors — Bedding — Feeding — Cracked and 
Ground Food — Bran — Importance of Good Quality of Food — 
Water — California Climate and Grasses 248 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

The Daily Programme with a Horse in Training — The Morning 
Meal and Exercise — Caring for Him After Work — Rubbing, 
Blanketing and Bandaging — Temperature of Stables — Cloth- 
ing — Muzzles — Hoods — Good Men for Rubbers — Boots — 
Some Specially Good Patterns of Boots — Toe Weights— Sel- 
dom Necessary and Much Abused — The Perfect Trotter Will 
Not Wear Them 257 



CONTENTS. XXllI 

Page. 
CHAPTER XXIV. 

Stopping the Feet — Caring for the Legs — The Soaking-Tub — In- 
juries Kesiiltiug from Hot Soaking — The Composition of the 
Hoof — Shoeing — The Elements of the External Anatomy of 
the Foot — The Wall, the Sole, the Frog and the Bars — Their 
Functions — The Wall the Bearing Part — The Angle of the 
Foot and Pastern — Effects of High and Low Heels — Level 
and Bearing to he Preserved — Stick to Nature — The Shoe — 
Trimming and Nailing — Experience with Tips 268 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Tracks— Shape and Treatmenl;— The Egg-Shaped Track— The 
Cushion — Ready for Racing Preparation — The Colt Must Be 
Going Square — Checks and Bits Again — Observations of 
John Splan — His Experience with Fanny Witherspoon — 
Driving with a Watch — The Preparation for Racing — A 
Week's Daily Programme Detailed — Preserving Speed 
while Conditioning the Horse to Carry It — Treatment Varies 
with Different Horses — The Importance of Proper Jogging — 
The Trainer Must Not Trust Details Too Much to His Stable 
Assistants 279 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

The Morning of the Race — Preliminaries — Starting and Scoring — 
Going for the Heat — What to Do Between Heats — Cooling 
Out— What to Do if the Horse Does Not Cool Out Properly 
and is Distressed — Stimulants — Feeding in a Race — Have 
Everything Ready Beforehand — Mud Shoes — Attend to Busi- 
ness and Avoid Tricks — Laying t"p Heats — Driving Requires 
Natural Fitness — Judgment of Pace — The Steady Horse Has 
the Advantage — The Exigencies of a Heat — Keep Cool and 
Stay With Your Horses 288 

CHAPTER XXVIL 

Common Injuries and Ailments and their Treatment — Horses 
that Trotted After Breaking Down — Treating Filled Legs — 
Iodine — A Favorite Remedy — Curbs — Cracked Heels — Dis- 
temper — Thrush — Quarter Crack — Tender Feet — The Lockie- 
pad Shoe — Splints — Sprung Tendons — A General Caution 298 



XXIV CONTENTS. 

Page. 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Tlie Question of Breeding — The Importance of Form and Action — 
Action Should Be Pure — " Line-Trotting" — Siructure of the 
Stallion — Action and Structure of Dam — Good Mares or 
None — Trotting-Blood Should Be Good — Developed Speed — 
Thoroughbred Blood — Must Be Carefully Selected and 
Oood — Its Advantages in Finish and Quality, Not in Game- 
ness — Viewing the Question Without Prejudice — Practices 
in Breeding — Time for Breeding the Mare — Experiences 
with Sprite, Dolly and Flower Girl — Trying After Breed- 
ing — Foaling Time — Age to Breed Mares — Number Stallions 
Should Be Allowed to Serve — Dangers of Overbreeding 308 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Nearing the End — A Tribute to Electioneer — His Breeding, His- 
tory and Characteristics — His Speed — His Roll of Honor and 
Rank as a Sire — The Electioneer Action — The Electioneers as 
Campaigners — General Benton — Piedmont — Nephew — The 
St. Clairs — The Belmonts — The Moors — Nutwood — Guy 
Wilkes— A. W. Richmond— Au Revoir 318 

Afpekdix 331 



Training the Trotting Horse. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OP THE AUTHOR. 

When in any field of endeavor, a man achieves that 
\vhich makes him famous, we are not content merely 
to study what he has accomplished and how he has 
accomplished it, but we are curious to know something 
of the life and individuality of the man himself. Had 
it been left to the unobtrusive modesty of Charles 
Marvin, the record of his life-work would probably 
not be supplemented by even the brief sketch of his 
career which is embraced in these pages. In these 
days when "cheek" so often passes current for abilit}^, 
it indeed becomes genuine merit to bear itself mod- 
estly ; and while no trainer of trotting horses has ever 
a]>proached Charles Marvin in successful achievement, 
there is not in his character a tinge of egotism, or in 
any word of his a note of self praise. He undertook 
the authorship of this book, because he has the faith 
grounded in over twent}^ years of practical experience 
that what we for convenience call the Palo Alto sys- 
tem of training trotting horses is superior to any other 
practiced, and he felt that it should be described and 
taiii:';! in a book that would prove a standard text- 



18 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

book in a field where such a work has not heretofore 
existed. Xot Avhat he did, but what he learned, he 
wished to tell ; and he wished to tell it not to gratify 
personal pride, but that others might learn from his 
exj)eriences. The idea of devoting a whole book to re- 
citing the personal doings of a trainer and driver was 
always repulsive to Mr. Marvin, as it necessarily must 
be to a man with aims higher than self-glorification. 

He took the broader, wiser view that not what a 
man does, but w?iat he can teach^ interests reading and 
thinking horsemen. Throughout the preparation of 
this book the author has, in teaching how to train 
trotting horses, studiously kept his own personality in. 
the background ; but the editor recognizes that the 
work would be in a measure imperfect without a sketch 
of the author's life, and in the following pages his 
career is outlined. 

Charles Marvin was born in Springwater Valle}'', 
Genesee County, New York, on ]^ovember 24, 1839. 
His father, Don A. Marvin, was by occupation a farmer 
and trader, and his mother, whose maiden name was 
Thorne, also came of a family of "tillers of the soil." 
Mr. Marvin's paternal descent is from what was known 
in family genealogy as " the Hartford branch " of the 
Marvin line. His father was directly descended in the 
sixth remove from Matthew Marvin, who was born in 
England early in the seventeenth century, emigrated 
to America, and was one of the original proprietors 
of what is now the city of Hartford, Connecticut. 

Charles was the second of a family of seven, and in 
their youth the uneventful lives of himself and his five 
brothers ran in the same groove as the career of the 



" AVKSTWARD HO !" 19 

average country boy of the time and place. In winter 
he attended school, and in summer assisted in the 
family work, and necessarily acquaintance with liorses 
was with him, as with all boys so situated, a matter of 
early commencement. II is skill at horsemanship quickly 
manifested itself, and, as a boy, his triumphs were in 
the direction of managing balky horses, and in excel- 
lent riding. 

A half century ago, those who longed to better their 
worldly circumstances felt the magnetism of the West 
as strongly as we do to-day; and in 1846 or 1847, Don 
A. Marvin and his family removed to Lowell, in Kent 
County, Michigan, where they farmed and kept hotel 
for six years. In 1852, another western move was 
made to Eockford, Illinois; then to Council Grove, 
Illinois, and a few years later to Dubuque, Iowa, where 
Mr. Marvin, Sr., was engaged for a time as a railroad 
contractor. Later Mr. Marvin lived successively at 
Coffin's Grove, Cedar Rapids, La Grange and Des 
Moines, Iowa, and the latter city became the perma- 
nent home of the family. Mr. Don A. Marvin died at 
Des Moines in 1869, and Mrs. Marvin in 1885. 

Before the removal to Des Moines, Charles Marvin 
determined to strike out for himself, and in April, 
1862, started for California overland. Taking a team 
with him he began the j<Mirney with one George Bab- 
cock as a companion adventurer. On the w^ay to 
Council Bluffs they fell m with a man whose destina- 
tion was Pike's Peak, Colorado, and he persuaded 
]\Iarvin to transport a load of stores for him to that 
point. In due time Pike's Peak was reached, and 
Marvin tried his fortune in the mines, but soon gave it 



'20 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

up and returned to Denver. There he was employed 
by the government as a teamster, and was sent with a 
six mule team to Fort Lyon with sup])lies. At Fort 
Lyon Marvin made the acquaintance of Captain L. D. 
Rouell, of Company F, of the Second Colorado Cavalry. 
The company were quartered durin|^ the winter of 
1862-63 at Fort Lyon, and in the spring was de- 
spatched to Council Grove, Kansas, to hold the Santa 
Fe trail against Indians and lawless border raiders. 

The company remained at Council Grove until the 
memorable dash of the (Confederate raider, Quan trill, 
into Kansas. On the night of August 20, 1863, Quan- 
trill, with 300 men, crossed the State line from Mis- 
souri, and in the early morning of August 21st, swooped 
down upon Lawrence, with lire and sword. *' Riot and 
murder and sudden death were in the city's streets." 
The town was literally wrecked and ruined, and in 
flight was the only escape from the sword. After the 
sack of Lawrence, Quantrill's men recrossed into Mis- 
souri, timidly pursued by General Lane. Captain 
RouelFs company was ordered to Lawrence after the 
raid, and a little later to Hickman's Mill, Missouri, 
thirteen miles from Kansas City. The country was 
practically depopulated, and for those who were loyal 
to the Union there were only two paths to safety — 
either to go within the Federal lines or leave the coun- 
try, as it was in sympath}^ with the "lost cause." 
Marvin remained herewith the company until the close 
of the war, the troops doing considerable fighting of a 
bush- whacking order. In the fall of 1861, the rebel 
General Price made his formidable raid, and Captain 
Rouell's company' was part of the force under General 



MUSTERED OUT. 21 

Curtis that was en<ijaged against Price. There was 
heavy figliting- at The Blue, at AVestport, and at 
Marisdeseynge. The command was also in the battle 
of Newtonia, where Charles Marvin's horsemanship 
and a good horse saved his life. A rebel cavalryman 
had fallen, on whose saddle was slung a white blanket. 
Rations were short just then, and Marvin mistaking it 
for a sack of flour, went after it. When near the sup- 
posed prize, some of the Confederate horsemen at- 
tempted to cut him off, and he had a decidedly " close 
call." The horse struck good footing and a clean piece 
of prairie, and b\^the hardest kind of riding the Federal 
horseman got back to his lines. Probably he never 
rode or drove a finish in saddle or sulky quite so des- 
perate as on the home stretch of his race for life with 
the guerrillas, who wonld have been delighted to gather 
him in. In the summer of 1865 the company was 
mustered out at Fort Riley, and the war experiences of 
the author of this work ended. 

In the army in these parts in the closing years of the 
war a good deal of horse-racing was indulged in, and 
when it was over, and the company mustered out, Mar- 
vin found himself in possession of two race-horses and 
two saddle-horses. He went to Kansas City and re- 
mained fhere, training and racing runners until the 
fall of 18G6. It is hardly proper to call them race- 
horses, for they were merely quarter-horses, and few 
of them were good half-mile sprinters, the most of the 
races being at a quarter of a mile, 500 j'ards, and 600 
yards straight away. The "cracks " of Marvin's string 
were Whitestockings, a good half-miler, of the Ariel 
blood, and Battery Grey, a lively scrambler whose 
''pedigree" traced to the Ninth Wisconsin Battery. 



22 TRAINING THE TKOTTING HOKSE. 

The following anecdotes, which we will have in 
Marvin's own words, serve to give an idea of the style 
of racing at Kansas City, and thereabouts, in those 
days : 

" One of my most notable races was with a bay 
horse whose name I cannot now recall. It was, as 
usual, a short straight-away dash. There was a good 
rider about at that time, by the name of Pierce, who 
weighed 135 pounds. I matched my horse for $400 
a side to carry Pierce or his weight against a pony 
called Spot to carry catch w^eight. Pierce had a weak- 
ness for whisky, and it was always fully develoi)ed on 
race days. If he was to ride, it was his invariable rule 
to celebrate the event beforehand b}^ ' getting full.' 
Originally there were some friends interested with me 
in the match, but when the time came, owing to 
Pierce's condition, I decided to ride the horse myself. 
My friends demurred, and I had to take all the match 
on my own hands. Having $600 bet on the outside 
this ran up my stake on the race to $1,000. The 
match was made with Hugh Kirkendoll, who had been 
a quartermaster at Fort Scott, but who is now a citizen 
and prominent horseman of Helena, Montana. (He 
visited Palo Alto the winter of 1889, but we failed to 
recognize each other until our conversation led to 
recognition, and an old acquaintance was renewed.) 
After I had mounted and was on my way to the post, 
Kirkendoll offered to bet me $100 more that I would 
lose the race. I took the bet, and went to the start. 
I won the race easily, and among the losers were my 
friends who had withdrawn when I decided to ride my 
horse, and had then backed Spot, feeling sure that ni}^ 



HIS FIRST TKOTTEIi. 28 

ridint^ would lose the race. Shortly after this I 
matched Wliitestockuigs against a one-eyed chestnut 
horse called Cornstalk, alias Bogus Bill. The latter 
bolted, carrying my horse off the track. I had a sixty- 
five pound boy up, who was unable to control the horse 
after he left the track. This match was at Leaven- 
worth, Kansas, for $2,500, and in all I lost $3,000 on 
the affair. I then made up my mind firmly to one 
thing, viz. : That I would never again race horses 
unless I could steer them in the race myself, and I 
have lived up to the resolution, I sold out my racing- 
stable iininediatel}'^, and returned to Kansas City." 

Shortly after this, in the fall of 1866, Marvin was 
engaged to manage a livery stable at $100 a month in 
Kansas City, and it was during this engagement that 
he had his first trotting-race. He trained a chestnut 
stallion named C£esar to trot, and entered liim in a 
sweepstakes race, in which he finished second. A lum- 
ber dealer named Kendall had a horse called Harry in 
the same race, and afterward undertook to convince 
Marvin that Harry could beat Ciesar single-handed. 
The}^ had three successive match races, all of which 
Caesar won. Then Mr. Kendall gave up the job of 
convincing Marvin that Harry could beat Caesar. 

Marvin tired of the livery business, and, in the 
autumn of 1867, took a team and made a contract to 
haul rocks at so much per square yard to the abutment 
of the present railway bridge at Kansas City over the 
Missouri River, which was then being constructed. 
One evening, as he was caring for his horses, a sporting 
man named John Forbing happened into the stable, 
and inquired where he could engage a man to take a 



24 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

load of merchandise to New Mexico. Finally Marvin 
agreed to take $500 for the trip, and on January 27^ 
1868, he started for Maxwell's Mines, on the Cimarron 
Eiver, in New Mexico. He engaged in mining at 
Elizabethtown, near Maxwell's Mines, until June, 
when he intended starting back to Kansas City, in 
company with a part of the Forbing party. Owing to 
a misunderstanding, however, the party left before 
Marvin was ready, and he changed his intentions. 
Visions of possible fortune in Texas was alluring, and 
he laid his course for San Antonio. This was no Sun- 
day journey in those days. The trail lay down the 
Pecos River and across the dreaded Staked Plain. A 
writer describing this route says : 

" It left tlie main trail somewhere near where the 
western line of Kansas now is, and turned southward 
across a plain — a vast country in fact — the very name 
of which was a synonym of danger before civilization 
came, and which is still almost unexplored. For this 
nearer trail to El Paso lay across El Llano Estaeado, 
and was in all likelihood the very dreariest road ever 
traveled. The distances were immense, water was not 
plenty, and Comanches were." 

Marvin returned from San Antonio to Kansas in 
the spring of 1869 and located at Paola, where he 
formed a partnership with E. L. Mitchell in a livery 
and training stable. Here he began training trotters 
as a profession, and it has been his vocation ever since. 

His twenty years of marvelously successful experi- 
ence, the pith of which this book is designed to record 
and teach, thus began in earnest. 

There is little more of interest of the great trainer's- 



BEGINNING TRAINING. 2» 

life to tell here, for he fully records his experiences as 
a trainer in this book. In 1872 Mr. Marvin and his 
partner located at Olathe, Kansas, and leased the track. 
Then bei,^an his remarkable career with Smuggler, and 
shortly afterward the partnership between Mitchell 
and Marvin ended. When he parted company for the 
last time with Smuggler it was in San Francisco, on 
April 5, 1878. Smuggler had broken down, and was 
then shipped home, Marvin deciding to remain for a 
time at least in California, as he already had a staljle 
in training at Bay District track. On April 10, 1878, 
Marvin went to Palo Alto and engaged to work on 
trial, and in due time became Superintendent of the 
farm as well as trainer, a position which he has filled 
with the greatest profit and credit to Palo Alto as well 
as with marked honor to himself. 

Charles Marvin was married at Kansas City, Decem- 
ber 3, 1873, to Miss Fanny Martin, of Ossowatomie, 
Kansas. Mrs. Marvin is a lady not only of much refine- 
ment, but of w\arm heart and lovable disposition, and 
is fortunate in the possession of the noble qualities of 
womanhood that make the charm of a model home. 
Mr. and Mrs. Marvin are happy in the possession of 
three children that are general favorites — ^Master 
Howard, aged nine ; Miss Jessie, seven, and Master 
Charles, Jr., aged four. Their home is a pleasant cot- 
tage at Palo Alto, and only those who have enjoyed 
its unrivaled hospitality can apprecia,te how much Mr. 
Marvin is to be envied in his domestic relations. 

One of the most admirable traits in the character of 
Charles Marvin, and a quality that has earned him the 
respect of all true horsemen, is his uncompromising 



26 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

honesty. While others have depended on trickery for 
success on the turf, Marvin has earned a greater repu- 
tation than anj'' of them, and has kept his character 
unstained. The tinge of jobbery never attached to his 
name. He has left to others the work of swindling 
the public, palling horses in races, and driving for the 
pool-box. In this book you will find no boasting over 
"smart" jobs that were carried through — boasting that 
seems to afford some trotting-horse drivers infinitely 
more gratification than their honest triumphs — as 
trainers. The chief shade that rests on the trotting- 
turf is the shameful fact that men Avho are notoriously 
and forever indulging in fraud on the tracks do so with 
impunity, and so far has this gone that some have 
written with boastf ulness the story of jobs of which an 
honest man would be ashamed. This class of men in 
their lives and their words do the pitiable work of in- 
culcating in the minds of young horsemen the idea 
that an honest man cannot succeed on the trotting-turf, 
that the price of success is the sacrifice of honor, ex- 
cept that honor that is by tradition su])posed to exist 
among thieves. But this class of men are gradually 
finding their level in the public estimation, and the 
trainers that are entrusted witli valuable horses, that 
have the confidence of rich and representative breeders, 
are not those whose names are always spoken lightly, 
but men who, like Charles Marvin, have a character to 
maintain that is worth more than all the money that 
was ever won by chicanery and fraud. Such men de- 
serve well of the horsemen of America, and all the 
better class of turfmen and breeders feel a personal 
gratification that the highest pedestal of fame on the 
trottino:-turf is reserved for men of clean character. 



COLONEL Russell's tribute. 27 

In his everv-daylife Mr. Marvin is, under all circum- 
stances, a gentleman. His manner is easy and rather 
retiring, and in conversation he is at first somewhat 
reticent ; but when he breaks through the ice, he talks 
freely and insiructively, while always modestl3^ He 
does not feel the necessity of tiresome and hollow 
boasting, and is content to be judged on what he has 
accomplished. Mr. Marvin is, as alread}^ stated, excep- 
tionally happy in his domestic life, and he is essentially 
a domestic man, loving his home and his family above 
all things else, and enjoying life nowhere as there. 

Perhaps no man living is better fitted to give a just 
estimate of Charles Marvin's character than Col. Henry 
S. Russell, who owned Smuggler in the days of his 
glory on the turf. I cannot better close this inadequate 
sketch of his career than by quoting the following 
letter, written some years ago by Colonel Russell to the 
Breeders' Gazette : 

" In addition to your very just praise of Charles 
Marvin as a driver, I beg to give nij testimony of him 
as a man. Kot only the horse, but the owner as well, 
may have every confidence in him. If the trotting 
interests of this country had been piloted by such as he, 
there would have been more honest owners in the field 
to-day, and the better part of our citizens would be 
ready to encourage, rather than suspect, the motives 
which prompt capital to invest in a pastime which, un- 
fortunatelj", lias been shamefully abused." 

L. E. M. 



28 TRAINING THE TEOTTING HORSE. 



CHAPTEE I. 

WHY THE BOOK IS WRITTEN A PROFESSION WITHOUT 

TEACHERS OR TEXT-BOOKS OUR SYSTEM OF TRAINING 

ORIGINAL ORDER OF THE WORK EARLY EXPERI- 
ENCES WITH HORSES MY FIRST TROTTERS — DAN, THE 

CHESTNUT SADDLE-HORSE — CLIPPER RUTLAND GIRL 

GEORGE SEALSKIN AND OLIVE DUNTON THE GREAT 

SMUGGLER. 

The idea of writing a book on training trotting- 
horses occurred to me some years ago. It certainly 
seemed to be a profession in which much was to be 
tauo'ht, but in which there were neither text-boolvs or 
teachers. The need of a work on the subject is best 
ilhistrated by tlie fact that "The Trotting-IIorse of 
America," by Hiram Woodruff, is still in demand, 
thouoh fullv twenty years out of date. The young 
man who reads Woodruff for instruction on training 
trotters in these days is much in the position of one 
who would follow Fulton's model in building a steam- 
yacht. The crude process, of which Woodruff was a 
master in his day, has been improved and perfected 
into a fine art. It seemed to me that a modern work 
Avas called for, lucidly explaining the most recent prac- 
tices in training trotters, so that new men in the busi- 
ness need not grope blindly in the dark, and only mas- 
ter their profession by here and there stumbling upon 



PLAN OF THE WORK. 29 

the right way to do certain things, after losing perhaps 
years in doing them the wrong way. My friends Avere 
good enougli to insist that ray more than twenty years 
of experience in training trotters had been successful 
ones, and that that success was mainly due to the fact 
that the Palo Alto system of training was original in 
many of its features, and differed therein radically 
from conventional ideas. They urged, moreover, tliat 
I owed it not only to myself but to the trotting-horse 
public to write in book form what my experience was, 
and what it had taught, that others might profit by ito 
The chief obstacle in the wa}^ was lack of time to do 
the work justice — for I am a very busy man — but 
finalh^, with many misgivings, the work was deter- 
mined upon, and within the covers of this book are the 
results. 

After the work took definite shape in my mind, a 
somewhat difficult question arose as to the best order 
of procedure. Should I first explain a sj'stem of train- 
ing and then tell what had been accomplished by it, 
or should I relate my experiences merely in training, 
tell how I did a certain thing, and let the reader judge 
Avhether it was right or wrong? My primary object in 
writing the book was not to ]30se as a story-teller, I'e- 
lating my own exploits merely for the pleasure of self- 
horn-blowing, but to endeavor to clearly explain what 
I believe to be the best system of training horses to 
trot fast. At the same time it is essential to have the 
work readable and interesting as well as instructive, 
and to most effectually serve these ends I have thought 
best to begin at the beginning, relate the story of 
Smuggler and other early horses, give a history of 



i]() 'I'KAiNiNci 'I'lii'; I'KorriNc; iioksk. 

Palo Alto, its horses, its mothods iind its campaio-ns^ 
ami then to lay ilowii the course of trainino- and man- 
ai;'cMuent which those experiences have taught. AVith 
these ])refatory roniarics wo may start at once upon 
our journoy. 

'riiough all uiv life had boon spont in working more 
or less with lioises, 1 lirst hogan training trotters, as a 
business oi- i)ror(>ssion, in ISO',),, 1 was then at Paola, 
Kansas, ongagod in tiie livery stable business, and took 
up lli(> training of trotters as a supi)lenientary occupa- 
tion. Perhaps I should not say I began training trot- 
tors, for in reality I began training ])aoers to trot, In- 
(hnnl my oarly successes were all in the line of convert- 
ing paoors to the orthodox gait. The lirst horse of 
any account that canu> into my hands was the chest- 
nut g(>lding Dan. Uo was a sort of saddle-horse, and 
a natural i)aoi>r. llo was owned by Mv. S. 0„ Jerome, 
ami aftiM- 1 had loarnod him to trot we started him at 
St. .loso))h, Missouri, on July 1, 1ST<>, against Aroos- 
took I 'oy, (ioorgo Wilkes Jr. and Pilot Poy. 1 won 
with Dan in straight heats, trotting the second lu^at in 
±'M]. On tlio <Uh ho again dofoatod (loorgo Wilkes 
Jr., and on the 14th distanced Kansas Maid for a ])urse 
of $400. Dan was on the turf for over l\)ur years, 
trotting upwards of twenty races, and winning eleven 
times, but he never boat the record 1 gave him in his 
lirst race at St. Joseph. 1 converted him from the 
pace with weight in the shoe. 

My next horse of any account was tlio bay gelding 
Clipper, who had paced in ±'^1. 1 loarnod him to trot, 
ami after ho got going clever at that gait, Mr. Benja- 
min Akors, the thou well-known Kansas breeder^ 



SMUGGLER COMES. 31 

boufrlit liiin for $5,000. lie was at one time a very 
promisin*^ horse, but his day passed and left him un- 
Jviiowii to fame. 

About this time I had in my stable another pacer, 
the brown mare llutland Girl. 8he was of the llal- 
corn blood, and though I converted her to trot, and 
trotted her a good deal, she never had speed enough to 
be of much account. 1 won two good races with her. 
one at To|)eka, Kansas., September 26, 1873, and the 
other at Kansas City, June 2, 1875, for a $500 purse, 
but her fastest mile was 2:-13 — slow for a baby trotter 
in these days. When, shortly afterward, I went east 
with Smuggler, I took Kuthmd Gii I along and sold her 
in Boston to a gentleman from New Jersey. 

Another, and about the most promising horse I had 
up to this time, was the gelding George, lie was by 
Field's lloyal (ieorge, the sire of Byron, 2:25^, and 
his dam was re|)rescnted to have been a daughter of 
Sir Tatton Sykes. (ieorge was, unlike any other early 
horses, a natural trotter, and he certainly had the 
capacity to trot close to 2:20. 1 considered him about 
as promising a horse as Smuggler, but he died of lung- 
fever before he had a chance to show what there was 
in him. 

At Hannibal, Missouri, in September, 1872, a black 
horse of unknown blood called Sealskin made a pacing 
record of 2:26^, and later he came into my hands. 
I made a complete success of converting him, and al- 
though lie has no trotting-record, 1 taught him to trot 
as fast as he could pace. This horse and a mare called 
Olive Dunton about completes the list of horses of my 
early training days, until one came into my hands that 



32 TRAINING THE TRAINING HORSE. 

was destined to be the foremost figure of his age on the 
turf, to overthrow its imperial queen, the mighty 
Goldsmith Maid, and to reign its acknowledged king. 
This was the great Smuggler, wdio came to me a 3:00 
pacer, and left me with a trotting record of 2:15^ — 
the fastest stallion record of that day. 

It was the fortune of Smuggler and myself to earn 
our reputation together, to emerge from turf obscurity 
to turf fame, and like all that figures in the front bat- 
tle line, we had our triumphs and defeats, enjoying ap- 
plause and bearing condemnation together, just as the 
tide of fortune and the fickler tide of public favor 
chanced to ebb and flow. 



THE GREAT SMUG&LER. 33 



CHAPTEK II. 

THE GREAT SMUGGLER HIS ORIGIN AND BLOOD HOW HE 

WAS NAMED GIVEN MARVIN TO TRAIN HOW SMUG- 
GLER WAS CONVERTED TO TROT WEIGHT-CARRYING 

SUCCESS AT LAST, AND RAPID IMPROVEMENT FAST 

TRIALS AND SALE OF SMUGGLER TO COLONEL RUSSELL 

THE GREAT RACE AT BUFFALO, WON BY THOMAS JEF- 
FERSON ADVERSE CRITICISM OF " THE WESTERN 

HOOSIER." 

In the summer of 1872, when I was engaged in 
training horses, as stated in the last chapter, at Olathe, 
Kansas, Mr. John Mason Morgan came to me with a 
bay pacer to train. The story lie told me of the 
pacer's origin was this, in substance : He had formerly 
lived, he stated, at or near Columbus, Ohio, and 
had bought a pacmg-mare that was brought by a 
•cattle drover from West Virginia. This mare had 
been bought from a cavalryman at Clarksburg, West 
Virginia, in or about 1863, by a Mr. Irwin, and from 
him passed into the hands of the party from whom 
Morgan got her. Two or three years later Morgan 
purchased, through the same Mr. Irwin who had 
owned the pacing-mare, the bay stallion Blanco. 
Blanco was foaled in 1857, and was bred by Mr. Josiah 
Morgan, of Ohio County, West Virginia. He was sired 
by Iron's Cadmus, by Beach's Cadmus, thoroughbred 



34 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

son of the great race-horse, American Eclipse, and the 
clam of Blanco was by Irwin's Tuckahoe, tracing be- 
yond this to the blood of Bond's First Consul. Mr. 
Morgan mated the Virginia-bred mare with the Vir- 
ginia-bred horse, and, forgetting the foahng-time, one 
morning in 1866 he unexpectedly found the youngster 
in a paddock with his dam, and other mares. The 
colt was endeavoring to secure maternal attention from 
another mare when discovered by Mr. Morgan which 
prompted that gentleman to exclaim, " Ah, 3^ou little- 
smuggler ! " And thus, according to the story told by 
Mr. Morgan when the horse was still obscure, he got 
the name of Smuggler on his natal morn, and it stuck 
to him. 

In 1868, Mr. Morgan sold Blanco to a man named 
Tipton, and gave him two of his colts, one being 
Smuggler. Tipton moved to Kansas, and about a year 
later Morgan also settled in the " windy state." Tip- 
ton failed to pay Morgan for the horses, and he took 
back the whole outfit. He rode Smuggler under sad- 
dle, worked him on the farm, etc., and, as he showed 
some speed as a pacer, he started him in a pacing-race, 
and he was driven by one Lamasney, one of the 
Lamasney Brothers, the Western turfmen, who own 
Banner Bearer, and other well-known horses running 
on Eastern tracks. In that race Smuggler was dis- 
tanced in 2:52, and subsequently Morgan came to place 
him in my hands as told at the opening of this- 
chapter. 

Mr. Morgan wished me to train him as a pacer and 
take a half interest in him, Avhich I promptly and em- 
phatically refused, telling him that pacers were of no 



SMUGGLER THE PACER. 35 

account, and he woukl have to allow me to train him 
to trot or I would not train him at all. This he re- 
fused, and came to see me almost every other day for 
two months, endeavoring to prevail upon me to meet 
his proposition. Morgan was a very erratic man, and 
had a peculiar old grey soldier-coat which he wore 
winter and summer. He, in copious and highly sea- 
soned language, would ridicule the idea of trying to 
make Smuggler trot. "Why," he exclaimed, "if you 
knocked him down with a club he'd get up pacing." It 
amuses me now to recall how, after Smuggler became 
famous as a trotter, Morgan would loudly tell how he 
bred him for a trotter, and how he knew from the first 
that he would be a great trotter. And I am bound 
to add that once after Smuggler was defeated Mr. 
Morgan wrote Colonel Russell that if he would " buy 
Marvin a pair of rubber reins he would always have a 
winner." I trust I have outlived the astute Mr. Mor- 
gan's suspicion. 

Finally, finding it futile to urge me to train Smug- 
gler as a pacer, Morgan compromised b}^ giving him to 
me to train to trot, on condition that if I failed I was 
to make him ])ace as fast as he could when he came 
into my hands, which was not a very heavy contract to 
assume. Thus it was that Smuggler, obscure and un- 
known, came into my hands on August 15, 1872, the 
day he was six years old. I found him a good-looking 
bay horse, 15,3 in front and 16 hands high behind, with 
a white rear heel and a star and snip. He was a well- 
made horse all over, with excellent legs and grand feet. 
His head was well-shaped, and his broad forehead and 
rich hazel eyes gave him an expression of great intelli- 
gence. 



36 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

I tried every known method of conversion with 
Smuggler, and at times I despaired of ever learning 
him to trot. He was a pacer through and through. 
First I shod him with an ordinary shoe, but had to in- 
crease this again and again until he finally wore two 
pounds on each front foot, his hind shoes being ordi- 
nar}^ five-ounce ones. It has been contended, I be- 
lieve, that Smuggler was injured by carrying excessive 
weight, and that is possibly true. He had the best of 
feet, joints, cannons and tendons, and had it been 
otherwise he might not have stood what seemed neces- 
sary to be done. If the reader will follow me, after I 
have done with my story-telling, into the discussions on 
shoeing and weighting, he will discover that I am, on 
'principle, opposed to heavy shoes and " dead against " 
weights. But all cases cannot be treated alike ; excep- 
tional cases require exceptional treatment, and the case 
of Smuggler certainly was an exceptional one. It 
should be remembered that he was not the only horse 
that carried such weight. Nettie, 2:18, carried ten 
ounces more than Snmggler ever did, and so did the 
little mares Lula, 2:15, and May Queen, 2:20. None 
of these could- compare with Smuggler in muscular de- 
velopment, and another thing greatly in his favor was 
that he was a mature horse before the task was asked 
of him. In many cases the end justifies the means, 
and those who criticise the methods pursued with 
Smuggler have in 2:15^ a stubborn obstacle to brush 
away. 

As I have said, I tried every known method of 
conversion with this horse. I tried the cross-strap 
by which it is made impossible for a horse to pace; 



CONVERTING SMUGGLER. 37 

I tried the plan of placing rails on the ground at such, 
intervals as would compel the horse to put his feet 
down in the diagonal order; tried weighting in every 
way, and all availed nothing. Finally, by a sort 
of inspiration, I struck on a plan which perhaps 
found its first growth in the knowledge that a horse 
cannot turn short at the pace. I would start him 
up slowly and rather sutldenly tlirow him off to one 
side at a pretty sharp angle, compelling hini to change 
his gait, and the new gait he would keep for a 
few steps. As soon as he came back to the pace I 
■would swing him off sideways again. Of course this 
■was virtually driving around in a small circle, until he 
began to go a considerable distance trotting. At each 
time he would remain at the trot a little longer, and 
after the long, tedious and discouraging experimenting 
the reader may well understand how glad and encour- 
aged I was when one day, after going around in a 
circle for eleven times, Smuggler struck a trot and 
kept it up for a quarter of a mile. Before this I had 
unsuccessfully w^orked with him for twenty-eight days. 
The third day after this evidence of a change of heart 
he went a full mile, trotting, in 4:20, and two days 
later did a little better, trotting the mile in 4:00. The 
seventh day after showing his first inclination to trot 
he showed a mile in 2:59, and the rapidity of his im- 
provement is shown by the fact that on the thirteenth 
day he trotted the mile in 2:41^ ; the twenty -first day 
he worked three heats in 2:48|^, 2:38-| and 2:32, and 
the twenty eighth day miles in 2:32^, 2:30^. This 
ended the work for that season, and during the winter 
Smuggler suffered from an attack of epizootic. He 



38 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

was jogged easily during March, 1873, and in April we 
beg'an working him again. On Mav 1st he was ofood 
enough to trot a mile in 2:27, and do it in a way that 
was full of promise of improvement. The second week 
in May he trotted a mile in 2:25, and three days after- 
ward in 2:23. Then Mr. Benjamin Akers offered 
$10,000 for him, but we declined the offer. He kept 
right on gathering speetl and improving in form every 
day, and a week after Akers offered $10,000 for him 
he went a mile in 2:22 ; the next week he trotted three 
miles in 2:26, 2:21^, 2:20, and the following week I 
worked him two miles in 2:19f and 2:20|^. He was 
then sold to Capt. W. S. Tough, of Leavenworth, Kan- 
sas, and shipped to New York, in my charge. The 
object of this visit was the projected sale of the horse 
to Mr. Eobert Bonner, and, as I understood it, Mr. 
Bonner was to buy the horse for a certain sum if he 
could show three fast heats, one of which should be 
better than 2:20. The journey from Kansas to New 
York was not an easy one, but after being on his feet 
five days in the car, I drove Smuggler over Prospect 
Park for Mr. Bonner three heats in 2:19^, 2:21^, 
2:21. He was timed by Mr. Bonner, Sim Hoagland, 
and George C. Hopkins. The last half of the last mile 
was made in 1:09. The next day Mr. Bonner sent a 
veterinary surgeon to examine the horse. This scien- 
tist reported to Mr. Bonner that he found the horse to 
have " a jack " which as a matter of fact never existed. 
When Mr. Bonner saw Captain Tough what he said to 
him was in substance: "This horse is in great form, 
up to concert pitch, but I would rather pa}^ a little 
more money to see ^ little more speed. If the horse 



SALE OF SMUGGLER. 39 

could show a mile in 2:1()|, I would give $75,000 for 
bim."" 

The sale to Mr. Bonner having fallen through, we 
were in doubt whether to go to Boston and start 
against Goldsmith Maid's time, 2:16f, or to return 
home. Meanwhile we quartered the horse in a stable 
on Great Jones Street, Kew York City, and there, Sep- 
tember 1, 1873, Colonel Henry S. Russell, of Milton, 
Massachusetts, appeared on the scene. I was after- 
ward informed that Colonel Russell -was en route to 
Mr. Backman's Stony Ford Stud, in Orange County, 
when in the Turf, Field and Farm office conversation 
turned upon Smuggler, and the Colonel decided to see 
him. The trial at Prospect was on Thursday, August 
28th, and if my memory serves me aright it was on 
Monday that the colonel came and opened negotiations 
for his purchase. They were speedily consummated. 
Colonel Russell buying the horse at the price asked, 
$30,000, and on Wednesday evening he was shipped to 
his new home near Boston. On September 5th we 
showed Smuggler at the ISTew England Fair, at M3^stic 
Park, Boston, and, though hog-fat, he trotted a half- 
mile in 1:06, the first quarter in thirty-four and the last 
in thirty-two seconds. 

As it was not Colonel Russell's intention to trot the 
horse that season he went into temporary retirement, 
and I returned to my Kansas home. 

Smuggler was jogged all winter on the road, and in 
the spring was worked for speed by a Mr. Moulton. 
Colonel Russell entered him in the stallion race to be 
trotted at Buffalo, August 5, 187-1, but the horse's work 
wa? not satisfactory and the Colonel telegraphed for 



40 TRAINING THE TEOTTING HOKSE. 

me at the eleventh hour. I immediately came East 
and got the horse just eight days before the race, and 
it was said that up to that time he had not gone a mila 
better than 2:40. He began to shape up fairly well 
before the race, but was, of course, short of work and 
was not keyed up, but even at that he would, I believe, 
have won had he been fairly treated by the starter. 
Besides, the horse was raw and uneducated, knew noth- 
ing about scoring, and was all at sea in company. It 
was impossible to get him up with the other horses, 
and consequently at every start he got much the 
worst of it. 

The field that started was composed of Thomas Jef- 
ferson, " the Black Whirlwind of the East ;" Mambrino 
Gift, the first stallion to trot in 2:20 ; Joe Brown, Pilot 
Temple and Smuggler. Smuggler had the pole, but 
getting away in the first heat far back soon lost it to 
Joe Brown, who led at the quarter. Smuggler four 
lengths behind the field. We were fully eight lengths 
away from the leader at the half, but the Kansas com- 
bination began to get on steam in the stretch, and they 
told me afterward that the people shouted, "See 
Smuggler come !" In the stretch Smuggler carried 
Mambrino Gift to a break, and easily shook him off, 
and tlie chestnut son of Mambrino Pilot was also 
passed by Thomas Jefferson who came fast at the 
finish, but was beaten a length by Smuggler in 2:22 J. 

Kow Smuggler was made a favorite over the field, 
and in the second heat I asked the judges to let us go 
if my horse was going level, even though somewhat 
back. At the fifth score w^e went away. Smuggler 
eight or ten lengths back, with Pilot Temple in the 



RACE AT BUFFALO. 41 

lead, and Mambrino Gift on his wheel. Marabrino Gift 
led at the half in 1:10, Smuggler cut down the field 
one by one going around the turn, and collared Mam- 
brino Gift at the head of the stretch. The pressure 
was too much for Mambrino Gift and half-way up the 
stretch he went all to pieces. Smuggler winning by a 
length in 2:20f. When the time was hung out there 
-u-as much excitement, enthusiasm and cheering, for 
the stallion record had been broken, and, moreover, 
Smuo-o-ler had made the fastest record ever achieved 
by a horse in his maiden race. He trotted the last 
half of that mile in 1:08^, and w^ent around the field 
at that. 

Smugirler was now a pronounced favorite over the 
field, but it was not destined to be his da}^ of triumph. 
His preparation had not been sufficient for a bruising 
race, and though it is possible he had enough left to 
win, the starter, Mr. C. J. Hamlin, of Bufl'alo, shiugh- 
tered him in the third heat. When the word was 
given Smuggler was far nearer the distance judge than, 
the wire — indeed, I do not know but that the dis- 
tance judge could have touched us with his flag. Na 
worse start was ever given in an important race, and I 
saw at once that our chances of getting inside the dis- 
tance flag were narrow. Around the turn Mambrina 
Gift led the field. Smuggler nearly a furlong behind. 
Mambrino Gift went on and won the heat in 2:22^, and 
Smuggler beat the flag home. The Spirit said of it : 
" It was a hopeless task for Smuggler from the begin- 
ning. The send-off was toohad for cmytldng without 
wings to make up against such a field, but right gal- 
lantly he struggled, and as the leader reached the wire 



42 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

he was well up with the party, having made up about 
half of the disadvantage under which he started." In 
view of this who can doubt that, had the starter pro- 
tected the pole-horse, as it was his duty to do, Smug- 
gler would have won the race'!! 

Smuggler was now dead tired. AVant of condition, 
endless scoring, and three hard heats had settled the 
half-trained horse, and in the fifth heat, after twelve 
scorings, he was sent away again far back, " and the 
subsequent proceedings interested him no more." The 
heat was won by Thomas Jefferson in 2:23^, and 
Smuggler was distanced in company with Pilot Temple. 
Thomas Jefferson won the next two heats and the 
race in 2:26|, 2:28^, and Mambrino Gift got second 
money. 

I was bitterly and unfairly criticised for the failure 
of Smuggler to win that day. Men who bet their 
money and lose are not the best judges of the driver's 
motives or skill, and of course talk from that class is 
not heeded. But all the reporters from Kew York to 
Conew^ango knew they could have driven Smuggler 
better than Marvin did, and with Doble, or Green, or 
Dan Mace in the sulky, everybody Avas sure t^at 
Smuggler could not have lost, and everybody conceived 
it to be his special duty to advise Colonel Russell what 
to do in the matter. The amount of good advice the 
Colonel received during the campaign of Smuggler 
represented an aggregation of wisdom that it is sad to 
think was thrown away. The Colonel was laughed at, 
jeered at, and advised about the awful consequences of 
keeping a great horse in the hands of "the Western 
hoosier ;" and I certainly would have been glad at sev- 



ADVKKSK CKITISM. 43 

eral times to have o-iven him up to some of the many 
men of great re))utation who were only waiting for a 
chance to electrify the world with Russell's misman- 
aged horse. The people who criticized the Buffalo 
race made no allowance for the fact that I had a green, 
raw horse, untrained and uneducated, short of Avork 
and but half prepared, one whose gait was artificial, 
one that had never been in a race before, and knew 
nothing about trotting in company. 

AVell, that is all a matter of years ago ; anu if the 
critics are satisfied with what they thought they knew, 
I am satisfied with what I did ; and what is more 
gratifying to me than all is the fact that Colonel Rus- 
sell after all was over was, and is, glad that he refused 
much kind advice, and stuck to the "Western hoosier." 



44 TRAINING THE TEOTTING HORSE. 



CHAPTER III. 

SMUGGLER " UNDER THE WEATHER " A FAMOUS SPRING- 
FIELD BLACKSMITH GETS AT HIM HE WINS HIS FIRST 

RACE, DEFEATING WELLESLEY BOY GEORGE WILKEs' 

COMPLIMENT HE WINS THE GREAT STALLION RACE AT 

BOSTON RECORD 2:20 1875 AN OFF YEAR JUDGE 

FULLERTON DEFEATED AND THE STALLION RECORD 
LOWERED TO 2:17. 

From Buffalo we came to IJtica, starting Smuggler 
in the $5,000 race for the 2:29 class, for which a field 
of nine faced the starter. Charley Green had Fleety 
Golddust in pretty good shajDe that day, and had little 
trouble in winning, after Music had captured one heat, 
in 2:24^. Smuggler was quite "off" from the effect of 
his hard race at Buffalo. He acted unsteadily, but we 
gave Fleety a pretty good argument in the third heat, 
which she won by half a length, after a fighting finish, 
in 2:23. Seeing that there was no chance of winning, 
and that the horse was not himself, he was, by permis- 
sion of the judges, drawn after this heat. 

Smuggler was then taken to Springfield, where we 
intended starting him August 18th. Here I had an 
instructive little episode with a "horseshoe-maker." 
Colonel Russell decided to try this gentleman's shoe- 
ing, and he Avent to work. I did not have much idea 
of what he was going to do, but I afterward learned 



s^iuggler's first victory. 45 

that he was going to make Smuggler trot faster. I 
had been trying to reduce weiglit, but the bkicksmith 
decided that in the other direction lay success, so he 
put a twenty-five-ounce shoe on each fore foot and a 
foui'teen-ounce shoe on each hind foot, thus doubling 
the weight of the hind shoes On top of this he pre- 
scribed six-ounce toe- weights. Then, according to 
this eminent '' harmonious blacksmith," Smuggler was 
rigged to smash records. He explained that the extra 
weight behind would improve his hock action, of which 
he had little. Well, we tried him in this rig, and his 
speed would not have seemed indecorous at a funeral. 
"We were then on the eve of a race, and with the horse 
anchored in every leg, the prospects were not cheery. 
But I "returned to first principles," threw away the 
Springfield patent, and put back the old shoes. Soon 
*- Richard was himself again," and on the 18th he won 
his first race, in the second, fifth and sixth heats, beat- 
ing the favorite, Wellesley Boy, and a large field, 
among which were Commodore Perry, H. C. Hill, and 
others of note in their day. Speaking of this race, Mr. 
George Wilkes said, in the Spirit : " The speed and 
gameness of this horse are something wonderful ; in 
each of his heats he seemed totally incapable of doing 
any fast work until he had accomplished half the dis- 
tance; then would come his time, as, with a gait the 
very perfection of motion, so easily and apparently 
without effort did he move along, he would cut down 
his field and win his heats." 

Smuggler next started at Mystic Park, Boston, on 
September 2d, where he was defeated by Lucille Gold- 
dust, though he won the fastest heat of the race — the 



46 TRAINING THK TROTTING HOKSE. 

third — in 2:22. The heat before this Smuggler had 
broken badly, and in the first quarter of this heat Dan 
Mace said to Colonel Russell : " It's $100 to one cent 
that he will be shut out." But he came home from the 
half in tlie vicinity of 1:06, winning the heat handily. 
At Beacon Park, on September 10th, in the 2:34 class, 
Smuggler won, beating a field of eight with compara- 
tive ease, the fastest heat being 2:26. 

Then came the sensational trotting event of the year, 
Mr. David H. Blanchard's " Great Stallion Race for 
the Championship of the United States, and a purse of 
$10,000." "When the race was first announced, early in 
the summer, some people sought to throw cold water on 
the whole thing with the easy cynicism that it was "' a 
race made for Smuggler." But the races at Buffalo 
and further down the circuit line left very few to be- 
lieve that Smuffffler could defeat Mambrino Gift and 
Thomas Jefferson, and when the day came it looked to 
the public anything but " a race made for Smuggler." 
I do not think I ever saw a larger crowd on a race- 
course than flocked to Mystic Park on September 15, 
1874, to see the battle of the champions. Of the origi- 
nal fifteen entries, six came to the wire, viz.: Mambrino 
Gift, that trotted a few weeks before in 2:20, thus 
making the fastest stallion record to that time ; Phil 
Sheridan, of whom much was expected, and his son 
Commonwealth, that afterward made a record of 2:22; 
Smuggler, with his record of 2:20f, and his reputation 
for unreliability ; Henry W. Genet, 2:26, then the fast- 
est son of the sire of the great Hopeful, and Vermont 
Abdallah, who was as much out of place in the com- 
pany as a fire cracker among cannon. 



THE GREAT STALLION EACE OF 1874. 47 

Just before the I'ace, Thomas elefferson, the conqueror 
at Buffalo, was drawn, as he went very lame in his 
warming-up jog. Tlie betting- was heavy, and a sam- 
ple pool will sliow how strong a favorite Mambrino 
Gift was. This })ool was sold in the city at the rooms 
of Morse & Morris the night before the race, and is 
said to be the largest ever made on a trotting race : 
Mambrino Gift, $1,000 ; Smuggler, $335 ; Thomas Jef- 
ferson, $330 ; Phil Sheridan, $175 ; Commonwealth, 
$150 ; Vermont Abdallah, $110 ; Henry W. Genet, 
$45. 

Mambrino Gift had the pole, and getting away well 
led to the quarter, with Sheridan second, but in the 
back-stretch I did not have much trouble in giving 
both the leaders the go-by, and got to the half in 1:11^ 
with a nice lead. Smuggler won the heat well in hand, 
and " Jock " Bowen, after a hot tussle, got Sheridan 
home ahead of Mambrino Gift for second place. 

Phil Sheridan got the best of the start in the second 
heat and he led to the half in 1:11, where I cut Smug- 
gler loose, and went on and won the heat in a common 
jog by about eight lengths from Sheridan, with the 
favorite, Mambrino Gift, very badly beaten. The time 
was 2:23, the same as in the previous heat. 

The next heat we went away pretty evenly, but 
Smuggler at his best was slow to get into his stride, 
and Bowen rushed Phil Sheridan to the front, taking 
the pole. Mambrino Gift, also got away fast, but his 
effort was "a flash in the pan," as he soon went into a 
tangled break, and fell back. On the back-stretch 
Smuggler got into his big swinging stride, and went by 
the tired Phil Sheridan, m spite of all Bowen's efforts, 



48 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

with ease. The time to the half was about the same 
as in the previous heats, 1:11 and a fraction, but I sent 
him along in the last quarter fast, and won ^ away off" 
in 2:20, thus equaling- the fastest stallion record. 

The applause of the Boston ians after the first heat 
was warm; after the second heat it was wild and 
hilarious ; but after the race was won and the last 
heat trotted in 2:20 the enthusiasm of the crowd knew 
no bounds. They hurrahed for Colonel Russell, for 
Smuggler, for Mr. Blanchard, for Smuggler's driver 
and everything else in generaL Those who remember 
that occasion will remember it as a red-letter day on 
the Eastern trotting-turf, and in closing my reference to 
it, a quotation from tlie Boston Ilevald may be par- 
doned : " In they came upon the track as soon as the 
deciding heat was finished, rusliing from the grand 
stands before the horses had crossed the line, and filled 
the space around and in front of the judges' stand, 
cheering for Smuggler, his owner, his driver, Mr. 
Blanchard, the track, etc., etc. Loud calls were made 
for Marvin, the comparatively unknown driver of 
Smuggler, who had thus suddenly stepped into fame 
with his horse, but Marvin declined to appear, and 
quietly and modestly went to the stable to look after 
the animal over wliich he had handled the reins so suc- 
cessfull}^ receiving cheer after cheer as he passed along. 
Mr. Russell, the owner, made his appearance in the 
stand and bowed his acknowledgments to tlie ovation 
he received, and then Dr. George B. Loring was intro- 
duced and made a pleasant little speech to his 'fi-iends 
and neighbors,' the theme of wiiicli was, of course, tlie 
horse Travelers toward home talked of 



SMUGGLER THE CHAMPION. 49 

nothing but Smuggler's success, as in the morning they 
had thought of httle but Smuggler's chances and the 
chances of others ; and even about the hotels and other 
places of resort the evening was most enlivened by re- 
counting the results of the day. The great triumph of 
Smuggler, perhaps, is as much due to the firmness of 
his owner as to the horse himself. Friend after friend 
of Colonel Russell has for weeks importuned that 
gentleman to change his driver. Doble or Mace should, 
in their judgment, be chosen to handle Smuggler, in- 
stead of a man concerning whom so little was known. 
But Marvin had known Smuggler in Kansas, had 
broken him from a pacer to a trotter, and Colonel Rus- 
sell, while not doubting the ability of the drivers rec- 
ommended, believed that the modest man from Kan- 
sas knew more about that particular horse than any 
one else, and refused to change. The result has proved 
that his judgment was correct, and it is within the 
range of possibility that no other v.diip would have 
Avon the race with Smuggler." 

This race finished Smuggler's campaign of 1ST4, and 
he went into winter quarters the champion trotting 
stallion of the world. He had thoroughly made up for 
all his Grand Circuit reverses, and in a battle royal of 
champions had covered himself with glory. So 1ST4 
was, after all, a brilliant year for Smuggler and his 
courageous and courtly owner, and the year was not 
wholly unkind to the Kansas driver, who thus with due 
diffidence made his debut among the master reinsmen 
of the grand circuit. 

During the winter of 1ST4-T5 I worked a stable of 
horses in Kansas, and in the spring started out to trot 



50 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

through the Mississippi, Kansas and Minnesota circuits, 
with a small and not very formidable " string." While 
up in Minnesota, in the latter part of June, I received 
a teleo-ram from Colonel E-ussell to come East and take 
Smuggler again. After the campaign of 1874 it was 
natural that 1 should not be quite content with a lot of 
2:40 horses, so I did not have any hesitation about 
sending my stable home, and making my way to Bos- 
ton. The campaign of 18T5 was not of very great 
consequence. In August we started him against time, 
2:20, at Boston, but father time was the winner that 
day. In each trial he broke, though showing great 
speed, and the best he did was" 2:21. On the 4th of 
Se]:)tember, at Beacon Park, Smuggler beat Nettie, 
2:18, easil}'' in comparatively slow time, the fastest heat 
of the race being 2:22^. September 16th, at Hartford, 
he beat Sensation in straight heats in 2:22^, 2:21^, 
2:22. Then a match race was made for $2,000 with 
Thomas Jefferson, who had beaten Smuggler, Mam- 
brino Gift and others in the stallion race at Buffalo, 
the year before. The race was trotted at Beacon Park, 
September 30th. Smuggler won the first two heats in a 
jog and then Jefferson was drawn, leaving him to walk 
over for the third heat. This ended his performances 
for 1875, and while he was not once beaten that year 
the season's work was something of a disappointment, 
for after the brilliant wind up of the year before we 
expected to lower the stallion record, the honor of 
which was shared equally by Smuggler and Mambrina 
Gift. 

The season of 1876 was destined to be a busy and a 
checkered one for Smuggler. Defeats awaited him. 



CAMPAIGN OF 1875. 51 

but they all were to be redeemed in the ^lory that was 
to be his when he overthrew the queen of the turf in 
a contest that will be memorable as long as the trotting 
horse is known. 

We opened the campaign at Belmont Park, Phila- 
delphia, July 15th, in a race against Judge Fullerton 
for a special purse of $2,000. Belmont was a fast 
track in the Centennial year, and July IT), 1876, was a 
hot day in the Centennial city. The conditions were, 
therefore, favorable for fast time. Whetlier by reason 
of the heat or of the characteristic apathy of the 
Philadelphians the race, which should certainly have 
been a great drawing card, bi'ought only a handful of 
people to Belmont. Thus one of the very best con- 
tests, between two crack horses, in the history of the 
trotting turf was witnessed by only about 300 people. 

Budd Doble had Fullerton in grand shape and '' the 
talent" felt sure of his victory and backed their opin- 
ion with pluck and liberality. The detailed account 
of the race, as published in Wilkes' Spirit of the 
Times^ is here reprinted for the benefit of the reader : 

"First heat: To a good send off Fullerton took the 
lead, and at the quarter swept by four lengths in ad- 
vance. Smuo-o-ler now settled into that magnificent 
long, sweeping stride which has rendered him so 
famous, and which, in the great stallion race at Boston 
electrified the thousands present. At the half he had 
closed to within two-lengths, still steady as a clock. 
From this to the three-quarters he rapidly shut up the 
daylight, gaining at every stride. Entering the home- 
stretch his driver forced him up a little, and he re- 
sponded nobly ; never making a skip, he closed on Ful- 



52 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

lerton, and, sweeping by him, shot under the wire a 
winner in 2:17^. Immense applause greeted this effort, 

" Second heat : At the third scoring, they got the 
word, Fullerton on the outside, a half-length the best 
of it. Trotting very rapidlj'-, the Judge ojjened a gap, 
and at the quarter he led three clear lengths. From 
there to the half no change occurred, but now Marvin 
shook up Smuggler, and he struck his lightning ]iace; 
before the three-quarters Avas reached, he had closed to 
a length of Fullerton. Coming up the home-stretch, 
Smuggler never trotted better; he collared the Judge, 
and showed a neck in advance. Doble gave Fullerton 
a taste of the whip, and the gelding answered to it in 
a flash, and held his own with the whirlwind, dashing 
under the wire yoked on dead even terms. It Avas a 
stunning finish, and made the lookers-on wild with ex- 
citement. The judges announced a dead heat. Time, 
2:18. 

" Third heat : The betting, which had been largely 
in favor of Fullerton, now swung around, and Smug- 
gler had the call at $20 to $17. Both horses had 
cooled out well, and came up, as it were, smiling. At 
the third attempt the}^ got the word, once again Ful- 
lerton a little the best of it. As before, he trotted 
rapidly to the turn, leading two lengths. Both horses 
now were sent for all they were worth, and a tremen- 
dous struggle ensued, Smuggler gradually but surely 
closing ; at the half, lie lapped Fullerton's wheel ; the 
time being 1:06. The struggle was kept up to the 
three-quarters, the stallion steadily gaining, passing 
this point in 1:41^. Holding his feet superbly, he shot 
by this point with the lead, and swept up the stretch 



VICTOKY AT PHILADELPHIA. 53 

winnin<^ by two lengths, in the magnificent time of 
2:17. 

" Fourth heat : Again, at the third attempt, they re- 
ceived the word. This time it Avas a tussle from the 
word. Fidlerton did his best to take his usual lead, 
but Smuggler never let go his hold, and at the quarter 
the}" were neck and neck ; on they swept to the half, 
both doing tremendous work. Reaching this point it 
was a question of endurance, Smuggler's head only 
showing in front— the time being 1:07. The Judge 
now seemed to tire on the up grade ; Smuggler, fresh 
as at the start, and held well in hand, drew ahead, and 
as they rounded into the stretch he had two lengths 
the best of it. From this ])oint home he jogged in an 
easy winner of the grandest contest ever seen on a 
trotting course, winning by five lengths in 2:20." 

This race again brought Smuggler prominently be- 
fore the world as a candidate for championship honors, 
and surprised those who had contended that his cam- 
paign of 1875 proved him unequal to the task of sur- 
passing or even equaling his performances of 187-1. 
At the very first attempt he had not only defeated 
one of the most formidable campaigners of his day, 
driven by the foremost reinsman of our time, but he 
had chipped three seconds off the stallion record, and 
between him and the proud title of King of the Turf 
there only stood one stumbling-block — Goldsmith Maid, 
2:11:. But Avhat an opponent he had to beat in her! 
She was a mare of "blood and iron" at her best, and 
her record as a campaigner stands to-day unequaled. 
So, with the knowledge that there was "one more 
river to cross" — and a wide one — Smuggler and his re- 
tinue started for Cleveland to struggle for the crown. 



54 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 



CHAPTEK lY. 

THE GREAT RACE WITH GOLDSMITH MAID — THE DETAILS 
OF THE MOST MEMORABLE RACE OF THE CENTENNIAL 
YEAR — A CLOSE CALL — " S. T. H.'s " GRAPHIC DESCRIP- 
TION. 

During the fall of 1875, and before the race with 
Fullerton, I had been slowly reduchig the weight of 
Smugo-ler's shoes. I had gradually got the fore shoes 
down to twenty-four ounces, and though it was neces- 
sary to '• go slow," we were getting weight off and im- 
proving at the same time, as the race against Fullerton 
proved. There was at this time a great deal of non- 
sense being written and talked of Smuggler, and a 
Philadelphia newspaper man made a bold bid for first 
place when, in commenting on the Fulleiton race, he 
declared that Smuggler " has been trotting with two- 
found toe-ioeights until recently, when, by careful and 
scientific handling, his driver has reduced them to one 
pound." As a matter of fact, Smuggler seldom wore 
toe-weights in races. When his shoes were greatl}'' 
worn I sometimes had occasion to put on a four-ounce 
toe-weight, but that was all. The weight was enor- 
mous, but it was all in the shoe. 

The race at Cleveland, July 27, 1876, was so im- 
portant an event — not alone in my experience as a 
trainer, but in the historv of the trotting-turf — that I 



THE BATTLE-ROYAL OF '76. 55 

cannot pass it by briefly. I dislike to dwell on my 
own successes lest what I say be attributed to egotism, 
so 1 will make but a few remarks on that event and 
quote a description written by another. 

Though Goldsmith Maid was clearly the favorite, 
the ovation accorded Smuggler, on his appearance on 
the track, surprised me. But his victory over Judge 
Fullerton. and especially his lowering the stallion 
record, at Philadelphia, had given him greater prestige 
than he enjoj^ed even after winning the stallion cham- 
pionship at Boston. He was looked to as the only 
horse m the field having any possible chance against 
Goldsmith Maid, and the public naturally cheered a 
horse that was good enough to dare to dispute the 
supremacy of the popular idol — the long-time queen of 
the turf. Another reason for the enthusiasm was the 
po]:)ularit3^ of his owmer, the courth^ and accomplished 
gentleman, Colonel Henry S. Kussell. 

Here was the field that faced the starter : Goldsmith 
Maid, 2:14, driven by Budd Doble ; Lucille Golddust, 
2:VH, driven by Charley Green ; Judge Fullerton, 2:18, 
driven by Dan Mace; Bodine, 2:19J, driven by Peter 
Johnston ; Smuggler, 2:17, driven by C. Marvin. 

With the exception of Lula, then just becoming 
famous as one in the first rank of "cranks," this field 
comprised the cream of the trotting-turf of that day, 
and all things considered another such field has never 
come together on any track. Goldsmith Maid won the 
first heat in 2:15^, the fastest heat trotted in a race up 
to that time, but Smuggler was only beaten a neck, 
and that after throwing a shoe at the head of the 
stretch. The Maid finished tired, and Doble had to use 



56 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

the whip persistentl\^ to get her home ahead of my un- 
balanced trottei*. In the second heat Smugo-ler broke 
badly at the start and I laid him up, just dropping in- 
side the flag, the Maid winning in 2:17^. With two 
heats to her credit it was now a brown-stone house 
against a peanut stand that the mare would win. The 
third heat was a desperate one. Swinging into the 
stretch I got Smuggler lapped on the Maid, and from 
that home I did all I knew to keep him together and 
yet call forth his best efi'ort, Avhile Doble em- 
ployed every resource of the master reinsman he is 
to drive the mare over the score in front As the 
Spirit put it : " At the draw-gate Budd had but a neck 
the best of it, and now he nearly went wild in his 
efforts to reach the goal first, and save the reputation 
of his darling mare. At the distance stand she gave 
it up, and Smuggler Avinning by a head only had be- 
come famous. Time, 2:1 6|. This race has probably 
never had an equal for wild and frenzied excitement 
since the day of Fashion and Peytonia, Ilenrv and 
Eclipse, and Wagner and Grey Eagle." Such a tumult 
is rarely witnessed as occurred on the Cleveland track 
that day, and in the wild storm of ap])lause I know 
there were many who cheered for Doble and the gal- 
lant old mare for the great fight they made. But the 
victory, now seemingly within our grasp, was very 
nearly snatched away in the fourth heat. Smuggler, 
though at the pole, was sent away rather behind, and 
Doble took it with Goldsmith Maid running. Green 
had Lucille Golddust lapped on the outside of Smug- 
gler, and Fullerton was close up also. We were thus 
soon in an " air-tight pocket." Going at a 2:16 gait a 



SMUGGLER AND GOLDSMITH MAID. 57 

man has not a great deal of time to make \)\nns or 
speculate on what may happen, but I trailed along not 
supposing that Green would endeavor to hold me in 
the pocket, with the mare having two heats and thus 
give her the race. Besides I expected Doble to go too 
fast for Lucille in the last quarter and thus make an 
opening. But it soon became clear that they had nie 
there and meant to keep me there, and when well up 
the stretch I saw only a desperate chance and took it. 
That was to drop behind Lucille, pull out and go 
around the ])air, and trust to one supreme burst of 
s})eed to make up the lost ground and beat the Maid 
to the wire. Green did not observe the movement 
until I had Smuggler straightened on the outside, and, 
as he saw Sinuggler''s white face at his shoulder and 
coming like a whirlwind, he shouted, "Look out, Budd,. 
he's out." In the emergency Doble became " rattled,'* 
as we now express it, suddenly went to the whip, and 
drove the mare off her feet. True and straight, with 
a burst of speed that no horse that ever trod the turf 
could excel, Smuggler rushed on to victory, winning the 
heat by a neck, and with that heat vanished the 
Maid's last hope. In speaking of that sudden grasp at 
our only chance — seemingly a forlorn hope — and of 
that meteoric rush at the iinish, a turf-writer said : "A 
smile of triumph lighted Doble's face, and the crowd 
settled sullenly down to the belief that the race was 
over. Marvin was denounced as a fool for placing 
himself at such a disadvantage, and imagination pict- 
ured just beyond the wire the crown of Goldsmith ]\Iaid 
with new laurels woven in it. But look, by the ghosts 
of the departed I Marvin has determined upon a bold 



58 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

experiment. He falls back, and to the rig-ht, with the 
intention of getting out around the pocket. Too late, 
too late, is the hoarse whisper. Wh}^ man. you have 
but a hundred and fifty yards to straighten your horse 
and head the Maid, whose speed has been reserved for 
just sucli an occasion as this. Her gait is 2:14, and you 
are simply mad. The uncounted thousands hold their 
breath. The stallion does not leave his feet although 
pulled at a fortj'-five angle to the right, and the mo- 
ment that his head is clear and the path o])en he 
dashes forward with the speed of the staghound. It is 
more like flying than trotting. Smuggler goes over 
the score a winner of the heat by a neck, and the roar 
which comes from the grand-stand and the cpiarter- 
stretch is deafening. As Marvin comes back to the 
stand to weigh, the ovation is even greater than that 
which he received in the preceding heat. Xothing like 
the burst of speed he had shown had ever been seen on 
the track, and it may be that it never will be seen 
again." It was, ]:»erhaps, bad judgment on my part to 
get into the pocket, but the way in which the heat was 
pulled out of the fire atoned for it, and the public 
cheered the same as if no apparent mistake had been 
made. Many who cheered that day had cursed " the 
hoosier" two years before at Buffalo, and had Smug- 
gler lost his feet in the desperate maneuver he would 
have lost the race, and the cheers would have changed 
to imprecations. So fickle a thing is public favor, and 
upon so narrow threads depend victory or defeat ! 

That heat made it clear that a combination had been 
formed to beat Smuggler. The pocket game did not 
work, and tactics were changed. The trick now was 



60 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

to worry Smuggler in scoring, and he threw the shoe- 
that had gone in the first heat agam. There was more 
scoring and in a break Smuggler threw another shoe. 
With the scoring and shoeing an hour was consumed, 
and the delay, it was believed, would rest the mare and 
thus favor her chances. When we got away Mace 
rushed Fullerton out to set a killing pace, the idea 
being tor liim to fight Smuggler in the early part of 
the heat, while the Maid trailed, reserving her strength 
for a fight in the stretch, when it was thought she 
might outfoot the horse after Fullerton had done with 
him. The scheme was a complete failure. I had Ful- 
lerton beaten at the half-mile, and the Maid was 
unable to give a serious challenge in the stretch, Smug- 
gler winning easy in 2:17^. This was conceded to have 
been the hardest fought race up to that day, and the 
heats were the fastest five consecutive miles on record. 
The shadows of evening were falling when the last 
cheers were re-echoing on " the change of dynasty." 
The haughty queen that so proudly and imperiously 
strode forth to sure and certain victory in the bright 
sunlight of the afternoon that was to be her greatest 
day of triumph had by dusk laid dow:i the crown. 
Here is the summary of the great race : 

Cleveland, Ohio, July 27, 1876.— Purse $4,000; free for all. 

II. S. Russell's b. s. Smuggler, by Blanco.. 2 5 111 

Budd Doble's b. m. Goldsmith Maid 1 1 2 2 2 

C. S. Green's b. m. Lucille Golddust 4 2 3 3 3 

W. M, Humphrey's ch. g. Judge Fullerton. 5 3 4 4 4 

H. C, Goodrich's b. g. Bodine 3 4 5 5 5 

Time, 2:15^— 2:17i— 2:16i:— 2:19f— 2:17*. 

In closing this description let me say that through 



" s. T. h's." description. 01 

all our battles and ever since I have had the warmest 
friendship for Budd Doble, and he has done me many 
a kindness that is not forgotten. AVe have too few 
Budd Dobles on the turf. He is an honest and up- 
right gentleman in the sulky and out, and no better 
driver ever pulled rein over a horse. 

Xow I have had my say about the sensational race 
of 1876, and I am sure the following condensation of a 
description Avritten by that brilliant writer S. T. Harris, 
in Wallace's Monildij^ will be a treat to the readers of 
this book. Few men wield a pen so gracefully as "S. 
T. H.," and I feel that this, one of his best descriptive 
articles, deserves a place here : 

"The writer had taken the night train from Cincin- 
nati on the evening before to see this mighty contest, 
Avhich the victory of Smuggler over Judge FuUerton in 
2:17, at Belmont Park a few days before, gave promise 
would be memorable in trotting annals. 

"The train reached Cleveland in tiie morning twi- 
light, just in time to enable us to repair to the track to 
witness the great horses taking their early exercise on 
the half-mile course of the agi'icultural department of 
the fair-grounds. 

" Standing at the head of the stretch, we had a fine 
forehanded view of the great concourse of trott-ng- 
horses entered for the races. First came Charley 
Green, behind Lucille Golddust, whose speed and en- 
durance are both severely taxed by the wide, clawing 
action of her front feet; and then the white face of 
Judge Fullerton, piloted by Dan Mace, a genius in the 
sulky and an idiot out of it, came in sight, plodding 
along with that high, violent, plunging, forward move- 



62 TRAINING THE TRAINING HORSE. 

ment that marks his marvelous waste of muscular 
action in front, ]^ot far behind him Bodine jogged 
into the ctretch, with that low, straight, "horouglibred 
knee-action for which the Volunteers have become 
famous. Then Goldsmith Maid came ski])[)ing along, 
with that artistic trick of hers that has enabled her to 
retire with the fastest record on the trotting-turf. 
Behind them all came Smuggler, well-poised, with that 
perfect balance tiiat comes from a s\nnmetrical frame, 
covered witli a great wealth of muscular power and 
animated with a level brain, conscious of its unequaled 
caj^acity. As he moved past us, with ease, with })ower 
and with precision, he certainly looked like an emperor 
among the throngs of celebrated horses, just as Aga- 
memnon towered above the bands of Grecian heroes. 

"At the lunch given by President Edwards, later in 
the day, the writer asked Budd Doble, whether he 
would permit Smuggler to win one fast heat for the 
purposes of a stallion record. AVith grim determina- 
tion he responded : ' JSTo. If Smuggler scores a fast 
record to-day he will have to beat the Maid, and that 
will not be easy to do, in my judgment.' Then I 
was convinced that the contest would prove a battle 
among giants. 

" The lunch over we eagerly repaired to the race- 
course. Already the grand-stand was overflowing with 
a brilliant assemblage of elegantly dressed ladies and 
gentlemen, that presented the appearance of the gor- 
geous throno^s of the elite that fill the boxes at the 
opera on gala nights. The quarter-stretch was densely 
crowded with men, and the field enclosed by the mile- 
course was packed with veliicles of every description. 



WORD PAINTING. G3 

The military band of the Cleveland Greys was dis- 
coursing; inspiring music. The roads were thronged 
with an interminable procession of carriages and street 
cars. The steam cars were rolling in lono- trains of 
eager passengers, and the entire tout enwmhle pre- 
sented a scene of tip-toe expectation, such as pre- 
cedes the consummation of some long-heralded, great 
event. 

" But when the bell rang for the appearance of the 
horses to contend in the free-for-all race, the impatience 
of the vast throng to catch the first glimpse of the 
grand entries rose to the very height of enthusiasm. 
The first to make her appearance was the wonderful 
queen of the turf, Goldsmith Maid, then in her twen- 
tieth year, yet looking as lithe and delicate as a colt, 
although she had campaigned for eleven years, and 
had asserted her supremacy in many despei'ate turf 
contests, from the lengthened shadows of the Green 
Mountains of Vermont to the golden gates of the 
jeweled daughter of the Pacific. 

" As she moved gracefully past the grand-stand, ten 
thousand applauding hands and waving handkerchiefs 
welcomed lier and her master trainer, Budd Doble, be- 
tween whom it is difficult to determine which has 
showered the greatest honors upon the other. Then 
Fullerton, with Dan Mace bowing profusely to the 
ladies, as if he was the Beau Brummel of the trotting;- 
turf, came by witli his poise of head and neck, and 
high, determined knee-action, in exaggeration of the 
movement of that incomparable trotter. Dexter. lie 
was closely followed bv Lucille Golddust, whose driver, 
Charley Green, had, within a few years, risen to the 



64 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

highest fame as a trainer. They had hardly passed 
through their shower of apphiuse, when Bodine, the 
splendid son of Volunteer, renewed the greetings. But 
when Smuggler jogged through the gates, and some 
one exclaimed, 'There comes Smuggler!' the entire 
assemblage rose to their feet with round after round of 
deafening ]3laudits to the champion from the land- 
ocean prairies of Kansas. Neither the horse nor his 
trainer, Marvin, paid any more attention to the en- 
thusiastic greetings than if they had been born both 
deaf and blind. The main facts in the history of the 
horse seemed to be familiar even to the ladies in the 
vast assemblage. 

" When the ])laces were assigned, Fullerton had the 
pole. Goldsmith JVIaid next, then Lucille Golddust, with 
Bodine fourth, and Smuggler, at the greatest disadvan- 
tage, on the outside. 

"Two false attempts, and they were sent off with a 
beautiful start for all, except Smuggler, whose power- 
ful action had not yet acquired sufficient space to attain 
its full s])eed. Before the first turn was reached, Ful- 
lerton had indulged in one of his provokingly slow 
breaks, and Goldsmith Maid had quickly taken his 
place at the pole as the leader. Bodine had rapidly 
trotted up into the second place, and, strange to say, 
Smuggler was close to his wheel, while Lucille Gold- 
dust was five lengths in the rear, and Fullerton fully 
fifteen lengths behind. At the quarter-pole, Goldsmith 
Maid had a fine lead. She fairly flew over the back- 
stretch, but Smuggler was coming on to her very fast. 
He outfooted Bodine, and was second at the half-mile 
pole. From that place to the head of the last quarter, 



THE BATTLE. 65 

he perceptibly closed up the space between himself and 
the leader, till they swung into the home-stretch. 
Here he suddenly faltered for an instant, and then 
quickly came on again like a whirlwind, finishing at 
the girths of Goklsinith Maid in 2:15^. The falterino- 
s.t the head of the stretch was owing to his casting his 
off front shoe; to which accident, undoubtedly, the 
wonderful daughter of Alexander's Abdallah may 
attribute her victory in this first heat. She seemed to 
be relieved when the score was crossed ; but the rush- 
ing speed of Smuggler under these adverse circum- 
stances proved how level is his brain, how determined 
is his courage, how electric is his speed, and how tre- 
mendous is his momentum when in full motion ; all of 
which qualities are invaluable to him as the progenitor 
of grand trotting-performers. 

" The second heat was started after one false score. 
Goldsmith Maid rushed to the lead, while Smuggler, 
unable to trot around the first turn, broke badly, fall- 
ing back more than a distance before he resumed his 
trot. Every spectator thought he would be in- 
gloriously distanced, as the entire field had left him 
back in the dust, too far it seemed, for him ever to bid 
defiance to the distance flag ; but, again, the level 
stride, heroic resolution, and amazing speed came to 
his rescue. Rapidly he closed up the gap, and, when 
they reached the wire in 2:17^ he was again in their 
company, only ten lengths behind. Again, on the 
second score, the word was given for the third heat. 
The fleet-footed, quick-witted little queen again shot to 
the front, followed b}^ Fullerton two lengths behind, 
"with Lucille Golddust at his wheel, Smuggler close up 



66 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

to her, and Bodine in the rear. They all trotted very 
rapidl}^ and steadil}^ to the half-mile pole, the Maid 
reaching there m 1:0S|-, with Lucille four lengths be- 
hind her, and Fullerton at her wheel. Smuggler, in 
the meantime, had swung to the extreme outside, and 
was trotting with amazing speed. Before the three- 
quarter pole was reached, he pad passed both the best 
daughter of Golddust and the swiftest son of Edward 
Everett, and his broad white face appeared instantly 
with the form of Goldsmith Maid as she swung inta 
the home-stretch, trotting so near to the pole to save 
distance that it seemed almost certain her sulky wheel 
would strike the inside fence. Smuggler did not seem 
to care to economize space. He swung boldly into tha 
center of the course. On came the leaders, like fright- 
ened phantoms fleeing from pursuing fate. Doble wa& 
lifting the little mare and vigorously applying tlie whip. 
Gallantly did she respond to every call upon her speed 
and endurance. Marvin, with flrmly-extended limbs 
and tightly-nerved outstretched arms, was bracing 
himself to hold Smuggler together, not to force him 
ahead. At tlie drawgates the mare was only one-half 
length in advance of the mighty stallion. Doble put 
forth superhuman efforts to land the mare a winner. 
He shifted the bit in her mouth, and welted her sides 
with his whip, and fairly worked his body forward to 
force along the sulky, at the last fraction of a second 
letting go of her head, in order that her outstretched 
neck might give her the victory by at least a throat 
latch. But at that instant Smuggler was mightier 
than the queen and her master reinsman combined. 
On he came with that true, powerful stride, and truer^ 



THE EXCITEMENT OF RACING. 67 

more resolute purpose, till the davlight showed be- 
tween his white nose and the flashing- eye of the mare^ 
and he passed the score just a head and neck in 
advance, 

" The buzz and hum and flutter on the grand-stand as 
the horses were sweeping over the far side of the course 
had died away into profound silence when the leaders 
whirled into the home-stretch. Every flgure was on 
tip-toe, every eye was strained to its utmost tension of 
vision, and every heart was hushed to the faintest 
throbbing, till the magnificent finish of Smuggler had 
landed him the winner of the heat ; and then ten 
thousand white handkerchiefs waved to his victory, 
and more than ten thousand throats shouted wild, 
deafening hurrahs to his well-earned triumph. The 
trotting world seemed to be on the eve of a change of 
dynasty. The heat was won in 2:16^, and he trotted 
the last half of the mile, by the writer's watch, in 
1:07. In this vast, swaying throng of excited specta- 
tors two attentive watchers stood exceptionally silent. 
Behind me, elevated on her chair, stood the wife of 
Goldsmith Maid's driver, arrayed like the Queen of 
Sheba in oriental colors, richer than the brilliant hues 
of the rainbow. But her features, in marked contrast 
to her raiment, were pale as alabaster, and her counte- 
nance was dejected with forebodings of the impending 
defeat of the little mare, Avhose performances had ele- 
vated her husband to the hiohest fame in trotting cir- 
cles. Above .her, dressed in the plain garb of republi- 
can simplicity, rose the form of the scholarly owner 
of Smuggler, wiping from his brow, with the broad 
palms of his tremendous hands, the perspiration that 



68 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

bathed his liead and face as if it flowed from inex- 
haustible springs. No excitement surpasses that of the 
race-course, in very important, closely -contested heats, 
both to the rival horses, their jockeys and their owners. 
That mountain of flesh, General Buford, had bravely 
ridden up to the foe on man v a battle-field of the lost 
cause, even when his face was darkened by tliick- 
coming showers of loyal bullets, without blanching in 
the least ; but when his deer-like race-horse, Versailles, 
thrilled the audience at the Buckeye Course by chal- 
lenging the champion Herzog for the lead and beating 
him home the first heat in the then remarkable time of 
1:4-3|, the stalwart General suddenly gave way to a 
S]msm of nervous paroxysms, as he wrung his hands 
with joy before that vast throng, and exclaimed in 
tearful hysterics : ' My God, the fearful strain upon my 
nervous system is ])ositively overwhelming.' If any 
reader dreams tliat sucii a mighty struggle as that be- 
tween the emperor and the empress of the trotting-turf 
does not awaken in the interested spectator the very 
superlative of nervous tension, he should have gazed 
upon the two faces we have sketched, revealiiig a mo- 
ment of supreme joy to the one and of depressive sor- 
row to the other. 

"Never was witnessed a grander performance on the 
trotting-turf till Smuggler eclipsed his own greatness 
in the succeeding heat. In vain did Doble ])lead with 
the judges for the heat, laying before them the old age 
and gallant struggle of the favorite mare, but they 
were inexorable. Despite his special pleadings the 
heat was given to Smuggler, amid the acclaims of the 
approving spectators. The results of the concluding 



OUT OF THE POCKET. 6& 

heats were awaited by the vast concourse with intense 
impatience. 

'' When the bell tapped for the fourth heat every 
spectator sprung to his feet. On the second score the 
horses were sent on their way, with Smuggler at the 
pole, but fully two lengths behind when the word to 
start was given. Again Goldsmith Maid took the lead, 
rushing in front of Smuggler, while Lucille Golddust 
forced her way to the outside of Smuggler, and Fuller- 
ton trotted close up to Lucille's wheel. Then it be- 
came evident that the three ablest trainers on the turf, 
Doble, Mace and Green, and the three swiftest trot- 
ting-horses on the turf, Goldsmith Maid, Lucille Gold- 
dust and Fullerton, were combined to beat the cham- 
pion stallion Smuggler. These were fearful odds. 
Nothing but the greatest speed, the most perfectly 
balanced brain and the most indomitable couraire 
could overcome them. There thev had Smuffg-ler se- 
curely held in a double pocket. Doble drove the 
Maid just fast enough to enable his helpers to keep 
u]) the pace and hold Smuggler in his disadvantageous 
position. All around the course till they swung into 
the home-stretch was he thus safely kept a prisoner. 
They were then coming home better than a 2:20 gait. 
Suddenly Marvin pulled Smuggler back. The leaders, 
not dreaming of this piece of strategy, rushed on to- 
gether in a close group. After they had passed, Mar- 
vin deliberately pulled Smuggler to the extreme out- 
side and attempted to win the heat. His success 
seemed to be impossible. With almost any other 
horse, trotting at such a rate of speed, such a maneu- 
ver would have soured his temper or discouraged his 



<0 TKAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

resolution or staggered his gait so that he would have 
indulged in a heart-broken, maddened, fatal break. 
But not so the nicely-poised, grandly-determined 
Smuggler. Instantly he resumed his wonderful 
stride. On he came to his adversaries, with tiie fatal 
swoop of an unerring eagle on its prey, ra])idly pass- 
ing the astonished Lucille and the struggling FuUerton 
till he overtook the fleet-footed Maid at the draw- 
gates, and rapidly outfooting her, beat her to the score 
in two minutes, nineteen and three-quarter seconds. 
After such a splendid exhibition of balanced action, 
subjected to such an unexampled test, how futile is the 
tape-line assertion of Mr. Helm that Smuggler is an 
inch too short in the muscles of the forearm and too 
heavy forehanded for trotting equilibrium. The elec- 
tric rush of his finish fairly frenzied the excited multi- 
tude. Their former deafening plaudits seemed almost 
like the echoes tliat now came from the reverberations 
of the surrounding forests. Again the water flowed 
down Colonel Kussell's face like a river, and the lady 
spectator below him, overcome by the defeat of her 
favorite, retired from public inspection, ashen-pale and 
siek at heart. 

" The fifth heat was called promptly on time. Smug- 
gler seemed to be getting very lame in the off fore 
foot, but otherwise he was as fresh and composed, ap- 
parently, as when he first came out for the race. He 
seemed to possess more determination to trium])li than 
ever before. On the second and fourth scores, so eager 
was he to rush to the front that he pulled off his right 
fore shoe. To replace it required considerable delay, 
which encouraged the backei-s of Goldsmith Maid. 



VICTORY. 71 

They argued that the delay rested her, and that the 
pulling of his shoes proved Smuggler was at least leg- 
wearv. She, therefore, sold in the pools about even 
against the field, including Smuggler. But on that day 
they counted without their host. Had they noticed 
the grim resolution of the stallion during one of the 
false starts, they would have saved much of their 
wajjered o:old. On the fourth score so anxious was he 
to get off, that, when Marvin took a strong pull to re- 
strain him, he resolutely took the bit in his teeth, and, 
stretching out the powerful muscles of his neck, he 
bent over and straightened out the strong iron water- 
hook on the saddle as if it had been only a bit of deli- 
cate tinsel ornament. 

" On the sixtn trial the start was announced. From 
the score it was evident the conspirators had changed 
their tactics. 

" Goldsmith Maid was held back, trailing bejiind 
Smuggler. At the turn Fullerton was forced ahead to 
set the pace. He rushed to the quarter in thirty-four 
and one-half seconds, and sped on to the half-mile in 
1:08|^. Then he dropped back, giving way for the 
mare; and the Maid, comparatively fresh, was sent 
along to measure strides with the stallion, whose brush 
with Fullerton was intended to tire him. This is the 
well-known jockey trick of ' two pluck one,' and in 
nearly every instance two horses can tire and vanquish 
a, third contestant, even though he has several seconds 
the advantage in speed and endurance. But Smuggler 
was more than a match against these fearful odds. 
Goldsmith ]\[aid made a gallant brush for the lead ; 
but the grand stallion had then attained to his greatest 



i-i TRAINma THE TROTTING HOKSE. 

momentum. After a desperate struggle around the 
upper turn the old mare gave up the contest, thor- 
oughly discouraged and beaten. 

" The stallion came away from her with tremendous 
power, he trotted down the home-stretch alone, in ad- 
vance of all his competitors, pulling hard for his 
trainer to let him go up to his grea.test flight of speed, 
finishing the mile, in the early twilight, in 2:17-3-, and 
winning the most remarkable race, taking in considera- 
tion his obstacles and opposing combinations, ever re- 
corded in the history of the trotting-turf." 



A HURRIED PREPARATION. IS 



CHAPTEE V. 

THE FREE -FOE -ALL BATTLES DOWN THE LINE FROM 

CLEVELAND TO SPRINGFIELD GREAT RAGE AT HAliT- 

FORD — 1877 A POOR YEAR FOR SMUGGLER TAKEN 

TO CALIFORNIA BREAKS DOWN IN THE SPRING OF 

1878 AND SENT HOME GOOD-BY TO SMUGGLER. 

From Cleveland we came down the line to Buffalo^ 
and again met Goldsmith Maid, Judge Fullerton, 
Bodine and Lucille Golddust in the free-for-all. We 
met them, and we were theirs. The perfectly seasoned 
old campaigner. Goldsmith Maid, though the race at 
Cleveland was a hard one for her, had quickly rounded 
to, and was that day as good a mare as ever she was 
in her life, trotting three heats in 2:16, 2:15J, 2:15 — a 
performance rarely equaled even in these daj^s. On 
the other hand, Smuggler was decidedly off, not having 
recovered from the Cleveland race, and lacking both in 
vim and steadiness. He could do nothing in the first 
heat, and in the first half of the second made a stand- 
still break, being two distances out before he settled 
again, after which he went home from the half-mile 
post to the wire in 1:07^, though eased up when the 
flag fell in front of him. Goldsmith Maid won in 
straight heats, in the time above given, and was again 
the popular idoL 

This race illustrates a point in training that every 



<4 TKAININCf TIIK TROTTING HORSE. 

trainer must have observed inanv times. That is, that 
a hurried ])reparation will not do for a campaign, 
whatever it may accom[)lisli for a race or two. 
Smuggler had been blistered the ])revious winter, 
and had been given no work, and not even enough 
exercise to have him in good shape to begin work. 
Therefore, when I commenced preparing him in the 
spring for his engagement in Philadelphia in May, the 
time was too short for gradual and ])roper conditioning. 
So, while not in the best sha})e to receive a hurried 
preparation he had to have it, and after his fast per- 
formance at Philadelphia, and that hard five-heat battle 
at Cleveland, it is not surprising that he '' went back" 
temporarily. I have learned both by experience and 
by observation that, while you can sometimes hur- 
riedly prepare a horse and get him u]) to pretty keen 
edge for a race or two, he will likely soon fall away 
from his best form, while the well-seasoned ones will 
go on getting better, if raced judiciously throughout 
the campaign. To lit a horse for a campaign in which 
you expect to keep him in first-class form, week after 
week, the preparation must be gradual and thorough. 
The horses that break records very early in the SDring 
seldom are the winners of the first-class summer and 
fall battles. 

At Kochester, a week after the Bufl'alo race, Smug- 
gler began to improve, and beat Judge FuUerton, 
Lucille Golddust and Bodine in a pretty good race, 
Goldsmith Maid not starting. Dan Mace got into 
trouble at Bufi:'alo, and was under expulsion, so that 
another driver — Voorhis — had to be put up behind Ful- 
lerton, and he did well with him, but Smuggler won in 



TIIK IIAUTFOKI) KACE. ( .) 

Straight heats in 2:15|, 2:18, 2:10^, Lucille tloing the 
lighting in the last heat, while Fullerton had trotted 
fast and honest in the first two heats, being onl}^ 
beaten about three lengths in the 2:15f heat, and right 
on Smuggler's wheel in the next in 2:18. We did not 
start at Utica the following week, and Goldsmith Maid 
easily beat the same field Smuggler had to defeat at 
Rochester, she not having to go better than 2:18^ to 
do it. 

Next came the great free-for-all at Hartford, 
August 31, 1876, a contest rivaling in importance and 
result the memorable one at Cleveland a few weeks 
earlier. The four competitors at Hartford were also 
in the Cleveland race when Smuggler won, and from 
that point down there had been nothing to decisively 
settle the question of superiority between Smuggler 
and the Maid, and it was indeed one on which turfmen 
were greatl}-- divided. It was expected that the con- 
test at Hartford would settle the question, and when 
Goldsmith Maid, Smuggler, Bodine and Judge Fuller- 
ton answered the judges* bell for the free-for-all, ex- 
citement and feeling ran high. The expectations of 
the crowd ran high too, but still had any one foretold 
a six-heat race wherein the stallion record would be 
broken, and every heat would be trotted better than 
2:20, he would probabh^ have been jeered at. 

The Maid, as usual, with that hop-skip-and jump trick 
of hers, got away first in the initial heat, but Fullerton 
went from the wire with the quarter horse rush of 
which he seemed always capable at the start, and Avhen 
he reached the quarter at a 2:12 gait he was well clear 
of Goldsmith Maid who led Smuggler and Bodine by 



76 TRAINING THE TROTTING IIOKi^K. 

a ]eno;th or so. Still Fullerton kept liis terrific clip and5 
passed the half at a record-brealcing pace, the Maid 
close up and leading Smuggler who was just getting 
under ])roper headway. Fullerton and tlie Maid raced 
in double team fashion to the turn, with Smuggler now 
getting right u\) with them. Fullerton was the first 
to wealven, Doble sending the Maid by him under tlie 
whip, but half-way between the distance flag and the 
wire Smuggler nailed her, and beat her home by about 
a length in 2:15^ — the fastest heat ever trotted by a 
stallion up to that day. 

In the second heat Smuggler got an even start, and 
the rest had a stern chase from wire to wire, the time 
being 2:17. 

In this race the judges allowed I)ol)le to score most 
unfaii'ly with his great mare, and she had no equal in 
wearing her opponents out on the score, they trotting 
and she skipping and relieving herself. Tired of this 
I nodded for the word somewhat back at the fourth 
score in the third heat, believing that it was, if any- 
thing, better to take the chances of a bad start than 
to submit the horse to the tiresome scoring in which 
the judges showed no inclination to protect him. 
Smuggler, however, got up to the mare in the stretch 
(she having, in the meantime, helped lierself by re- 
peated skips, or rather gaining breaks), and just out- 
flnished her in 2:16f. The best judges (including the 
re})resentatives of the Sjjirii of the Times and Turf 
Field and Farin\ who were so directly at the wire as 
to be in a position to judge, delared that Smuggler's 
Avhite nose crossed the wire first, but even if they had 
crossed perfectly even he should have liad the heat 



UNKAIK JUDGING. 77 

under the trotting rules, for he trotted it honestly 
without a skip or break which she did not, to say 
nothing of her two or three lengths advantage at the 
start. 

Smuggler was now a very tired horse, the three fast 
fighting heats, with the great weight he carried on his 
feet, leaving him thoroughly leg-weary. We now re- 
moved the four-ounce toe-weights to partially relieve 
him, but in the fourth heat he was beaten after a ffood 
struggle in 2:17^, and he again contended gamely in 
the lifth heat which was won in 2:18, but in the sixth 
heat a standstill break very nearly left him outside 
the flag in 2:19|. Smuggler did not get first money 
that day, but it was a race in which he gained honors 
equal with the winner, and there was at least as much 
difference of opinion as to the question of superiority 
after the race as there was before it. 

In consequence of criticisms of my asking for the 
word in the third heat when not on even terms, 
Colonel Eussell wrote the following letter, which 
speaks for itself : 

Home Farm, Milton, Mass., ) 
September 11, 1876. f 
As most of the papers, whilst saying that Smuggler 
was fairly entitled to the Hartford race, blame his 
driver, Charles Marvin, for asking for the word when 
some lengths behind (ioldsmith Maid, I deem it only 
my duty to a man who has served me most faithfully 
to explain that his reason for acting as he did was the 
simple fact that the judges allowed, and shov/ed nodispo- 
sition to prevent, the most unfair scoring on the part of 
the Maid. No one who saw it will deny that she 
was allowed to act just as seemed best for her own 



TS TKAIMNCr TIIK I'KolTlNli IIOKSE. 

iiitei'csts, irrespective of the good of others. Mv. 
Nrarviii pi-efenvd a had start to the chance of his 
horse l)ecoiniiio- fi-actious from the ill-iisa*>'e which the 
judi^es showed no s))ii'it to prevent, and I, for one, 
entirely indorse liis action as the only way in which he 
could protect my interests after being deserted by 
those to whom had been entrusted a fair deal to all. 

Furthermoi'e, I will trot Smuggler three races 
against any lioi'se, mare or gelding, for stake, purse, 
gate-money or charity, over such tracks, as may be to 
the advantage of both ])arties ; or I will trot him 
against any combination, a fresii horse to start against 
him in each heat, and all heats won by different horses 
in such combination to be counted as if won by a single 
horse in an ordinary race. 

liespectfully, your obedient servant, 

IIenkv S. IIussp:ll. 

The remaining performances of Smuggler can be 
summed up in few words. A week following he 
started at Springfield, but was not at all himself, the 
Maid winning easily. Then we took him to J^angor 
and gave an exhibition performance against time, which 
was followed by a match race against Judge Fullerton, 
at M\'stic Park, Boston, October 2d, which Smuggler 
won. The next week we again trotted him a winning 
race against Fullerton, this time at Dover, New Hamp- 
shire, over a veiy heavy and deep track. In this race 
he injured his hi[), and never was quite himself again. 
October 10th, in an unimportant matcii, or rather ex- 
hibition. Great Eastern won in slow time, and ten days 
later he trotted in the free-for-all at Fleetwood Park, 
New York, which was won by Karus, then just coming 
into ]M'ominence. 

In 187 T Smuggler did not come back to his old form. 



TIIK CLOSE OF A BRILLIANT CAREER. 79 

and only started twice, defeating Great Eastern in a 
loLU'-heat race in June at Boston, and being defeated 
by Hopeful in July. 

It was Colonel llusseirs desire to give Smuggler a 
faster record, and in November, 1877, we started for 
California, to give him the benefit of this genial climate. 
But the most carefully designed ])lans do not always 
succeed. Smuggler had a suspicious leg as earl}' as 
187G, and it interfered with his preparation in 1S77. 
We arrived at Bay District track, San Francisc(3, No- 
vember 14th, and prepared winter quarters. Through 
the winter I worked Smuggler very "gingerly," but it 
soon became apparent that the great horse could never 
race again, and in April, 1878, he finally broke down 
and was shipped home. Shortly afterward Colonel 
Eussell sold him to W. H. Wilson, of Cynthiana; and 
after being denounced as a complete failure in the 
stud and sold for a song, he has at last shown that he 
can sire trotters, and I believe his services are now 
sought at a high price at the stock-farm of F. G. Bab- 
cock, Ilornellsville, New York. 

I make no apology for takmg up a good share of 
space in giving a history of Smuggler. AVhether he 
owes much of his fame as a great turf-horse to me or 
not we will let pass, but I certainly owe much to him, 
and the chapter or two of which he is the hero is only 
just acknowledgment from his old driver. In esti- 
mating his merits as a race-horse the truthful histo- 
rians of the future will always record that "there 
were giants in those days," and that he battled with 
the giants and more than held his own. 

Though lie has yet no son or daughter as great as 



80 TKAIXIA'G THE TKCJTTING HOKSE. 

himself, his progeny are by no means a degenerate 
race, and among them are winners of high merit. 

Smuggler was in many respects a horse whose equal 
I have not seen nor ever expect to see. Though his hock 
action was not as free and exuberant as it might have 
been, he had a beautiful roll of the knee in motion, and 
his gait was direct and good. He went away easy and 
frictionlessly, and had abundance of vim and courage. 
Could he have been balanced with light shoes, he would 
no doubt have been a faster horse and a steadier one. 
As it was, carrying his two-pound shoes it is not to be 
wondered at that he sometimes "tangled" badly; that 
in long drawn out races he had to contend with un- 
usual leg-weariness ; that for these reasons he was some- 
what unreliable, and that he did not always as quickly 
recover from a hard race as did those whose gait was 
less a matter of acquirement, and who did not require 
such weight to balance them. He was a game and 
resolute horse, and no man ever saw a trotter that 
w^ould do more on his courage in a fio-htino- finish than 
Smuggler. 

I last saw the grand old horse on the 5th of April, 
1878, the day he was taken East from the Bay District 
track. 



PALO ALTO AND ITS FOUNDER. 81 



CHAPTER YI. 

FIRST VISIT TO PALO ALTO— SKETCH OF ITS ILLUSTRIOUS 

FOUNDER AND PROPRIETOR, LELAND STANFORD HIS 

GENIUS AS A HORSEMAN, HIS PURE CHARACTER, AND 

HIS MUNIFICENT CHARITIES THE HISTORY OF PALO 

ALTO IN BRIEF OUTLINE A SCIENTIFIC DEMONSTRA- 
TION OF THE POSITIONS OF ANIMALS IN MOTION. 

Among the horses in my stable at the Bay District 
track during the winter of 1878 was Gen. Benton, 
that had just been brouo-ht from 'New York State, by 
-Governor Lekind Stanford, to his farm at Palo Alto. 
He was sent to me to work during the winter, and a 
day or two after Smuggler went away, Gen. Benton 
was taken down to the ranch in the Santa Clara Yalley, 
and it so happened that I went with hnn. The result 
was, that "the Governor," as all conditions of people 
Ih California delight to call him, eno^affed me to train 
the horses at Palo Alto, on trial. I came here April 
10, 1878, and as the reader now knows am here still, 
and now endeavoring to tell what I have learned from 
twelve years work and experience, and I might add 
experiment, on the largest horse-breeding and training 
farm m the world. 

For obvious reasons, this book would be incomplete 
without some sketch of world-famous Palo Alto and 
its renowned founder, Senator Leland Stanford, and 



82 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

we will devote this chapter to that purpose as an 
appropriate preface to what follows, concerning the 
achievements of its horses, and the exposition of the 
system of training that ))ertains peculiarly to Palo 
Alto. 

The story of Leland Stanford is too eminently a 
matter of common histoiy to call for recapitulation, 
except in the briefest manner here. In the history of 
the development of California — and, indeed, of the 
whole farther West, for who can estimate what the 
Central Pacific Railway has done? — his name will ga 
down as that of a master spirit just as it will in the 
small sphere of development of the national American 
horse — the trotter. The following sketch, by a Cali- 
fornian writer, of the proprietor of Palo Alto, is a 
concise and brief biography which will interest every 
reader : '' Leland Stanford was born in Albany County, 
N'ew York, on the 9th day of March, 1824. The alter- 
nation of work upon the homestead farm, with study 
at a neighboring school, after the manner of the sons 
of intelligent and thrifty farmers in those days, con- 
tributed to give him that well-balanced mind, keen 
perception and perfect equipoise of faculties for which 
he has ever been distinguished. Endowed by nature 
with a powerful physical organization, he was, in 
youth, somewhat impatient of purely scholastic methods, 
which imposed too much in-door constraint upon a 
mind linked to a body full of vigorous life, which 
demanded a larg-e deg'ree of freedom and exercise in 
the open air. But this very impatience of confinement 
threw wide open to him the book of nature, laid the 
foundation for an enthusiastic love of the natural 




-^J 



GOVERNOR Stanford's career. S3 

sciences, and made him a keen and discriminating 
observer of material things ; a kind of education well 
adapted to fit him for the great enterprises and the 
high and responsible trusts in which he has distin- 
guished himself. At twenty years of age, with such 
education as he had gathered by this somewhat desul- 
tory method, he determined u]wn the study of the law, 
and entered the office of Messrs. Wheaton, Doolittle S:, 
Ilailley, an eminent law firm in the city of Albany, in 
the year 1845. Having com])leted his studies, and 
been admitted to the bar, he resolved to seek in the 
West a field for his future professional labors, and 
finally settled at Port Washington, Wisconsin, in 1S4S. 
Two years afterward he returned to Alb my and was 
there married to a most estimable young lady. Miss 
Jane Lathrop, daughter of Dyer Lathrop, a merchant 
and one of the most respected citizens of Albany. His 
professional career in his Wisconsin home was of brief 
duration. AVhile practicing law at Port Washington, 
a circumstance transpired which some will regard as 
providential, giving an entirely new direction to his 
thoughts and energies. A fire occurred which destroyed 
his law library and swept away nearly all his worldly 
possessions. The loss was severe, and to one possess- 
ing less self-reliance would have been disheartening. 
It served, however, its purpose, and the result was, a 
determination on his part to join his brothers, who had 
already emigrated to California. He reached this State 
on the 12th day of July, 1852, and found his brothers 
engaged in mining and trade. Without any practical 
knowledge of either of these occupations, Mr. Stanford 
determined, for the time, to abandon the practice of 



84 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. ' 

the law and enoao-e in business with his brothers. 
After prospecting at various points he finally settled 
at Michigan Bluff, in the famous mining county of 
Placer, where he remained nearly four years conduct- 
ing, in a very successful manner, the business in which 
he was engaged, and making a host of friends among 
the hardy pioneers and miners who were his principal 
patrons. In 1856, he removed to Sacramento, and, as 
a partner, became actively engaged in the mercantile 
house established b}'^ his brothers whose business had 
grown to large proportions, they being extensively 
engaged in import'ing, and having branch houses 
scattered tlirough the State. The magnitude of the 
firm's transactions, the multifarious knowledge de- 
manded and the natural aptitude of Mr. Stanford's 
mind for the administration of affairs of importance, 
all combined to develop and enlarge those extraordi- 
nary powers of observation and generalization which 
were subsequently displayed in the execution of the 
gigantic railway ]irojects which he undertook and 
carried through with such energy and success. At the 
breaking out of the civil war, Mr. Stanford was a most 
pronounced friend of the Union. He was chosen a 
delegate to the Chicago Convention in 1860, and voted 
for Abraham Lincoln as the Republican candidate for 
the Presidency. The acquaintance which he there 
made with Mr. Lincoln ripened into intimacy and con- 
fidence, and Mr. Stanford spent many weeks at Wash- 
ington after the inauguration, and became the trusted 
adviser of the President and his cabinet in regard to 
the appointments for the Pacific coast. It is not 
one of the least of Mr. Stanford's honors, that in 



UNITED STATES SENATOR. 85 

the perilous crisis of affairs which occurred in 1860, 
when Cahfornia was in danger of following the bad 
example of the South, Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward 
reii'arded him as the ablest and most reliable friend of 
the government in this State, and deferred to his 
opinion accordingly. In 1861, Mr. Stanford, contrary 
to his wishes, was nominated by the Republican party 
for Governor of California, and, while he sought no 
political preferment, he deemed it his duty, in the dis- 
turbed state of affairs, to sacrifice his own wishes to 
the welfare of the State and nation. He, accordingly, 
entered actively into the canvass and was elected by a 
plurality of 23,000 votes. The period was one of unex- 
ampled difficulty of administration, but Governor Stan- 
ford was equal to all the demands made upon him,and^ 
however great his achievements, he never seemed to 
have exhausted his resources or to have reached his full 
possibilities. His messages, and indeed all his State 
papers, were characterized by sound common sense and 
a comprehensive grasp of State and national affairs^ 
remarkable in one who had never before held office 
under either the State or national government. At the 
close of his term he had the satisfaction of leaving the 
chair of state, feeling that no State of the Union was 
more thoroughly loyal than California. 

" Governor Stanford was urged to accept a renomina- 
tion, but being then thoroughl}' engrossed in the con- 
struction of the great transcontinental railway, and 
feeling that the crisis in the history of the State which 
had compelled his acceptance in the first instance was 
now passed, he declined the proffered honor. At the 
last regular session of our State Legislature, he was 



86 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

elected United States Senator, which high position he 
has since filled with marked ability and to the entire 
satisfaction of the people. His establishment and en- 
dowment of the great Leland Stanford Junior Uni- 
versity, which bears the name of his lamented son, will 
go down to history as an act nnparalled in the annals 
of })ublic benefactions, and his memory will ever be 
cherished in the hearts of a grateful people." 

Governor Stanford has done, by grand example, at 
least as much as any man living to elevate the horse- 
breeding interest, and clothe it in that respectability 
which by right it should wear. Passionately fond of 
horses, he is naturally a good judge of them. He is^ 
indeed, the best jndge of form and of the proper con- 
formation for speed tliat I have ever known. By a 
sort of instinct he discerns the undeveloped merit that 
the most of us do not recognize until it is demonstrated. 
The matter of disposition and temperament he has 
made a study of, perhaps to a greater degree tlian the 
matter of form, and his success as a breeder, and es- 
pecially his success in mating thoroughbred-mares with 
trotting stallions, is due in no small degree to his 
intuitive analysis of temperament, and careful dis- 
crimination in blending blood with regard to mental 
as well as to physical qualities. Not only is " the 
Governor " an adept in judging of individual qualities 
in horses, and of valuing blood, but his ideas on train- 
ino; have to a certain degree revolutionized that art. 
He is, as all the world knows — and as the reader of this 
book will better a])preciate a little further on — the 
father of the Palo Alto system of training. That 
system is the outgrowth of an idea of which he was 



THE NEW IDEA OF TKAINING. 87 

the author. He believed that the way to develop the 
highest rate of speed was to work horses fast for short 
distances, and out of that idea a new system of train- 
ing has evolved which has given the world the 
majority of fast records for young horses. None of 
the old trainers would entertain the idea — old trainers 
are not in the habit of listening to anything that seems 
averse to their practices — but in the 3^earling record of 
Norlaine, the two-year-old and three-year-old records 
of Sunol, the four-year-old record of Manzanita, the 
record of Palo Alto, and many other brilliant achieve- 
ments we see the triumph of an idea. 

As a man Governor Stanford is admired, or rather I 
should say loved, the most by those who know him 
best — who have been brought near to him in every- 
da}^ life. With his employes he is just and consider- 
ate. Many a well-meaning man is in the wrong while 
he is trying to do right, and in such a case "the 
Governor" has the rare faculty of showing him the 
error of his ways effectively, but without hurting even 
the most sensitive feelings. A man's faults or mistakes 
he will not parade in the hearing of others; and while 
appreciative of good men will not tolerate worthless 
ones. The great charities of Governor and Mrs. Stan- 
ford are known from California to Maine. The grand 
"Leland Stanford Junior University," to build and 
endow which the greater portion of his many millions 
will go, is a gift to the people that can never be for- 
gotten, and one that will carry down to future genera- 
tions the memory of those who- bestowed it. The sums 
given monthly "for sweet charity's sake" by Mrs. 
Stanford run high up into the thousands, besides 



88 TRAINING TIIK TROTTING HORSE. 

whicli she maintains numerous schools and kinder- 
gartens, where tlio children of the poor may be trained 
for the battle of life. 

The lands owned by Governor Stanford include the 
Palo Alto farm of 11,(X»0 acres, devoted to the trotting- 
and running-horse dc])artments, besides the beautiful 
park and residence grounds, vineyards, etc.; the Yina 
Ilanch on the Sacramento River, of 55,000 acres, sev- 
eral thousand of which are in vineyards where the 
finest varieties of wine grapes, such as the Zinfandel 
and Charbonneau are abundantly grown ; and the 
Gridley Uancii in J>utte County, "of 17,000 acres, 
principally devoted to wheat growing. All these lands 
are ffiven to the Leland Stanford Junior Fniversitv 
in the "'rant foundint>' and endowing- that noble institu- 

O O ~ 

tion, which is now being built at Palo Alto, and whicli 
will cost mdlions to complete. 

The Palo Alto farm lies partly in Santa Clara and 
partly in San Mateo counties, in the beautiful Santa 
Clara valley, a spot almost unrivaled among all the 
gardens of the etirtli. Tliis fruitful valley, where the 
air is tempered by the breezes from San Francisco Bay, 
is at least the equal of any favored I'egion of the Pacific 
Coast in its natural advantages, and wealth and enter- 
prise have done perha])s more for it than for any other 
spot where Pacific breezes blow. Part of the Palo 
Alto farm adjoins the little town of Menlo Park, on 
the Southern Pacific Railway, an hour's ride from San 
Francisco. The farm lies nearly all between an arm 
of San Francisco Pay on the east, and the Southern 
Pacific Pailway on tlie west, and is chiefly level, the 
Avestern limits runnint>- into the foothills of the Coast 



Till;: l'AL(> ALTO FARM. 89 

IvcUig-e of Mountains, the ocean being- only thirty-five 
miles distant. 

I came to Palo Alto when it was new and crude — 
the first of the tracts that form the Palo Alto of to-(hiy 
only having- been purchased in 1876 — antl from that 
day to this the work of imjjroviijg and building has 
never ceased, until little either in the way of useful- 
ness or oriuimentation seems to be desired. While he 
who has an eye to the practical alone can see at Palo 
Alto every facility and every improvement for the 
accom])lishment of })ractical ends, the lover of nature's 
beauties can breathe the purest air, enjoy the brightest 
sunlight and feast his eyes on the greenest of land- 
scapes beautified with trees and shrubbery from every 
clime. 

When I began work at the new farm the track was 
just being built, new buildings were hardly yet 
planned, there was only about a dozen men employed 
on the farm, and the stud consisted of Electioneer, 
Gen. Benton, old Mohawk Chief and about twenty to 
twenty-five brood-mares. I little thought that this 
beginning would even, under the stimulus of Governor 
Stanford's limitless enterjirise and capital, grow into 
the most extensive trotting-horse breeding and training 
establishment in the world. Speaking of its dimen- 
sions, and of the scale on which the breeding and 
training of horses is conducted here, a writer recently 
said : 

" The writer, who is accustomed to take the measure 
of a stock-farm in a day and review it with a fair 
degree of comprehensiveness in a single article, finds 
himself in deep water at Palo Alto. My first impres- 



90 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

sion of Palo Alto was, that if one spent a month 
industriously here he might, at the end of that time, 
have a fair and intelligent conception of the trotting 
department of the great establishment in all its details. 
To-day, after devoting two months to the subject, I am 
sure that my first estimate was under the mark, and 
that I have not yet seen all that can profitably be seen, 
nor learned all that any intelligent horseman can 
learn. An establishment where any one of the several 
training stables equals the training department of any 
ordinary large stock-far-m, and where from seventy to 
eighty trotting-horses are daily in training^where 
upward of twenty stallions are used more or less, and 
where the trotting-harem numbers upward of 300 
matrons — such an establishment is not to be intelli- 
gently inspected in a day or a week. I have seen the 
principal stock-farms of America, and it is easy to sa}^ 
that no two or three of them rolled into one would 
duplicate Palo Alto ; but saying so does not adequately 
convey an idea of the scale on which Governor Stan- 
ford's ' nursery of trotters ' is conducted. In the 
extent of his enterprise, as well as in some other 
respects. Governor Stanford is easily the first trotting- 
horse breeder in the world." 

Mohawk Chief was purchased in 1875 by Governor 
Stanford, in New York, and brought to Sacramento. 
He was a son of Bysdyk's Hambletonian, a horse of 
fine proportions and style, but he has proved a failure 
as a sire of trotters, thougli some of his daughters have 
produced well, notably Sontag Mohawk, the dam of the 
great mare Sally Benton, 2:17f , Sport, 2:22|, Eros, 2:29i, 
etc. Then, in 1876, the young son of Hambletonian 




0^ 

< 
o 

< 
o 

Oh 

o 



> 



THE FOUNDATION BLOOD. 91 

that is now known world-wide as the great Electioneer 
came, and, in 1877, Gen. Benton followed. In 1883, the 
famous campaigner Piedmont, 2:17f, son of Almont, 
was purchased, and a few years ago Nejihew, son of 
Ilambrino, 2:21^, joined Electioneer, Piedmont and 
Gen. Benton to complete the quartette of famous 
Palo Alto sires. At different times lots of brood- 
mares were brought from the East, and others had 
been purchased in California, until, with the natural 
increment, the brood-mares now number about 300. 
The most famous of the mares im]iorted from the 
East are Elaine, 2:20, by Messenger Duroc, out of 
Green Mountain Maid, Electioneer's dam; Sontag 
Mohawk, the dam of Sally Benton ; Norma, the dam 
of JS'orval, 2:17|^; Lady Thorn Jr., the dam of Santa 
Claus, 2:17|^ ; Sprite, by Belmont, out of the great 
mare Waterwitch ; Gazelle, 2:21, by Hambleton- 
ian, out of Hattie AVood, by Harry Clay ; the noted 
trotting- mares Lula, 2:15, and May Queen, 2:20, 
Lucy, 2:1-1, the great white pacer, and many other 
Eastern mares of note. Among those of Californian 
origin that were brought to Palo Alto were Beautiful 
Bells (the greatest dam of trotters, age considered, 
that ever lived), by The Moor, out of Minnehaha, also 
a famous producer ; x\ddie, the dam of Manon, 2:21, 
and Woodnut, 2:1(3^; Aurora, 2:27, by John Kelson; 
Columbine, the dam of Antevolo, 2:19|^, and Anteo, 
2:16i; Mayflower, 2:30|, the dam of Manzanita, 2:16, 
and Wildfiower, 2:21 ; and May Fly, 2:30^, the dam 
of Bonita, 2:1 8^. 

In this chapter I only propose to outline the found- 
ing and history of Palo Alto, but later on in the book 



92 TRAINING THE TROTTING HOKSE. 

I will devote a chapter to some of the great horses of 
Palo Alto, giving some slcetch of each in detail. In 
like manner I will outline the campaigns of the Palo 
Alto horses, and in following chapters will give full 
particulars of the training and trotting of those that 
proved stars on the turf. 

The thoroughbred department at Palo Alto is kept 
entirely separate from the trotting department, the 
stables, track, etc., being located about two miles east 
of the trotting headquarters. The most noted sires 
there are Flood and Shannon, and among the best 
mares in the stud are importetl Flirt, dam of the good 
race-mare Gorgo and of Faustine; imported Fairy 
Rose, dam of Shannon Rose; Glendew, the (Uim of 
Guenn and Geoffrey ; Lady Evangeline, dam of Flood- 
tide, and other mares of the richest racing-blood of 
America and England. The superintendent and 
trainer of the thorouglibred department is Mr. Henry 
Walsh. 

The business management of Palo Alto has been for 
years in the hands of Mr. Ariel Lathrop, who has 
general charge and direction of all Governor Stanford's 
vast financial interests, and the mere mention of this 
fact is sufficient evidence of Mr. Lathrop's business 
capacity and upright character. 

The illustration and the diagram on the opposite 
page will give an idea of what the trotting department 
at Palo Alto is to-day. The reader will better under- 
stand the establishment by a comparison of the photo- 
grapliic view and the diagram, noting that the former 
was taken, looking northwest, from a point approxi- 
mated by the star in the left lower section of th& 
diagram, somewhat to the left of the center. 



^ 




1^ 


s 


o 


rti 




^ 






s 


^ 




^ 


!>, 


.^ 




1 


^ 




<*^ 




^ 




^ 




f^ 




^ 






94 TKAINING THE TROTTING HOKSE. 

I 

In order to accommodate it to the size of tliis work 
the diagram had to be drawn on a very small scale, 
and this must be remembered by the reader who 
tries to form a conception of the magnitude of the 
establishment. It will be noticed that there is a 
mile and a three-quarter mile track, an open training 
paddock about one tenth of a mile in circumference, 
and a covered one about one - sixteenth of a mile 
around. These as well as the other training api)li- 
ances will be fully described and discussed in the 
proper place We have generally about seventy colts 
and horses in training at Palo Alto, there being always 
six to seven assistant trainers. In all about eighty men 
are employed on trotters, not including the blacksmiths, 
harness-makers, etc., farmers or Chinese laborers. 

No sketch of Palo Alto would be complete without 
some reference to Governor Stanford's great contribu- 
tion to science, in demonstrating, tlirougli the agency 
of the camera, the actual movements and positions of 
animals in motion. Governor Stanford had for a long 
time entertained the ojiinion that the accepted theory 
of the relative positions of the feet of horses in rapid 
motion was erroneous. He believed that the camera 
could be utilized to prove that the conventional idea of 
the positions and movements in rapid motion was 
wrong, and that by instantaneous photographs the 
actual position of the limbs at each instant in the 
stride could be shown. He engaged Mr. ]\Iuybridge, 
an expert photographer of San Francisco to conduct 
the experiments, and by an elaborate arrangement and 
equipment of twenty-four cameras, after many weeks' 
work, pictures were prepared showmg the relative 



" THE IIOKSE IN MOTION." 95 

position and movement of the limbs at every in- 
stant in motion, and the actual action of the trot- 
ting and running-horses, heretofore a matter of much 
S})eculation and supposition, was with exactness and 
certainty reduced to one of scientific truth. The j)ub- 
lication of the elaborate work detailing these ex})ori- 
ments — '*The Horse in Motion" — caused surprise, and 
one might say created, too, an almost painful impres- 
sion, showing as it did that the supposetl graceful mo- 
tions of the trotter and runner were chiefly an optical 
delusion, and that every stride or "revolution" of a 
horse in rapid motion is an almost unbroken succession 
of ungraceful and angular positions. 

In this short chapter I have sought to outline Pala 
Alto as it was and as it is, and though I may have 
mentioned what may appear some unimportant mat- 
ters, they will all, I think, assist the reader to follow 
understandingly the chapters that follow on the cam- 
paigns of the great horses, which will end our histori- 
cal work and launch us into the closer discussion of 
the art of training trotters as pursued at Palo Alto. 



96 TKAININU THE TKOTTING HOKSE. 



CHAPTER VII. 

HISTOKY OF PALO ALTO CONTINUED — FIRST TRIALS OF THE 
PALO ALTO SYSTEM UNSUCCESSFUL REASONS THERE- 
FOR SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON TRAINING AND 

TRAINERS OCCIDENT AND ABE EDGINGTON CAMPAIGNS 

BRIEFLY OUTLINED FROM 1S78 TO 1889 THE GREAT 

CAMPAIGN OF 1886 — PLANS FOR 1888 FRUSTRATED BY 
FIRE — FURTHER SUCCESSES. 

The first horses I worked at Palo Alto were Abe 
Ederino'ton and the more famous Occident that had 
made a record of 2:16| some years before. These 
horses were at Sacramento when I came to Palo Alto, 
but shortly were brought home. After some little 
work on the usual plan of training, I drove Edgington 
a mile in 2:22, and Occident worked in 2:19. 

Then Governor Stanford explained to me his ideas 
of training, fully outlining a theory, the general prin- 
ciples of which are those now followed at Palo Alto, 
and which is properly called ''the Palo Alto system." 
He explained tiie advantages he saw in the " brush 
plan" of teaching a horse to trot fast. He did not be- 
lieve that the best way to teach a horse speed was by 
incessant jogging or working mile after mile in a drill- 
ing way. On the other hand, he contended that by 
sending a horse short distances nearly up to his limit 
but not far enough to tire him, allowing him to get his 



AN UNSUCCESSFUL BEGINNING. \U 

breath between dashes, ho would make speed taster, 
and do his work with eagerness, spirit and rehsh. lie 
saw that speed was the great essential, and that the 
best results would be attained by nuiking speed and 
then conditioning the horse to carr}' it, rather than by 
drillino- him into condition without first teachiu*'' him 
to trot at a high rate. In short, he outlined to me the 
central features of the plan of training that is ex- 
]>lained in detail in coming chapters of this work, 
though of course years of ex})eriment and ])ractice have 
raoditied in some details the projected system then un- 
folded by Governor Stanford. After endeavoring to 
give me a clear understanding of the methods he 
wished followed, he instructed me to train Occident, 
Edgington and the other horses accordingly. 

This was new and rather strange to me, and 1 am 
free to say that while I was determined to do the best 
I could to carry out my employer's instructions, 1 had 
very little faith in the ultimate success of the experi- 
ment. Horse-trainers are probably the hardest men in 
the world to teach — not because they are slow to learn 
when they want to, but because they know so much 
already that they cannot learn any more, and I ]ire- 
sume I was no better in this respect than the majority. 
We are all too apt to think that our way is necessarily 
the best, and that no other ])ossible plan can be better. 
I have also, in traveling along the highway of a busy 
life, observed that few mechanics work well with new 
and strange tools; that we never travel a new road 
quite so rapidly and steadily as over the beaten paths; 
and, moreover, it has seemed to me to be a rule that 
when a man starts in to do a thing- believing that it is 



98 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

bound to be a failure, it generally is one. The great 
majority of men who succeed in any certain undertak- 
ing are those who begin it Avith faith that they will 
succeed. These characteristics of human nature in 
part explain why my first essays with the new system 
of training were almost heart-breaking failures. It is 
my duty to detail these failures, not only as incidents 
in the history of Palo Alto, but to point out that 
should others try this plan of training and not at first 
succeed, it would not be a surprising thing, and should 
not be a discouragement. 

After I had worked Occident and Abe Edgington on 
the new plan for about ten days, instead of improving 
on their 2:10 and 2:22 trials, it would keep them work- 
ing all the time to trot in 2:-l:0. Just as any other 
trainer would, I at once jumped to the conclusion that 
this new -system of training trotters was one of the 
many pretty theories that won't do in practice. So, I 
went back and worked the horses on the old plan, 
which I knew something about, and got them going 
pretty well again. But then the Governor insisted 
that I should follow his instructions, and the new idea 
was worked on again with the same result. The horses 
lost their speed apparently as completely as if we had 
Avorked tliem over soft ground in a harrow. Tliis was 
in September, 1878. One day Governor Stanford 
came down to the farm to see the horses work, as 
both had engagements that week. The best Abe 
Edgington could do was to get to the half in 1:14, and 
it took him 0:47 to come home from the head of the 
stretch. Occident's trial was even worse. Then I re- 
peated Edgington, but he was unable to do better. 



EAKLY CA]MPA1GNS. 99 

Governor Stanford asked me to repeat Occident, but I 
succeeded in having botli the horse and myself excused, 
until he got over that attack of '•'the slows." 

Now, however certain it seemed to me then that the 
fault was all with the system, I now know that this 
was not the true explanation of the lamentable tem- 
porary degeneration in the speed of Abe Edgington 
and Occident. The plan was all right, but I did not 
know how to use it, and I gave the horses too much of 
it. A man used to working horses mile heats natu- 
rally does not think he is tloing anything in quarter- 
mile or furlong brushes, and in under-estimating the 
amount of fast work I was really doing, the job was 
overdone. An old horse, one that has been very 
long trained, cannot, it must be remembered, stand 
as much fast work as a young one can at the 
gait he can go. A child can play until tired, and 
after a little rest will be quite refreshed again, 
where a man will tire and remain tired. You can. 
work a yearling colt twice a day to advantage, when 
a similar system of proportionate work will stale a 
mature horse. Once a horse develops a high rate of 
speed, it must be remembered that he cannot stand as 
much sharp work as one that has not reached high- 
speeding capacity. So after I became more familiar 
with training on the Palo Alto plan it was not neces- 
sary for me to seek any explanation of the first unsuc- 
cessful experiments, other than that I was working a 
system that I did not understand, and did not know 
how to apply with proper judgment. 

When Electioneer came to Palo Alto thirteen of the 
get of Messenger Duroc came with him, and candor 



100 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

compels me to say that with the exception of Elec- 
tioneer and his half-sister, Elaine, there was nothing in 
the lot of any great account. When I first came to 
Palo Alto, however, Mohawk Chief was at the head 
of the stud, and 1 spent two hard seasons' work in 
trying to make trotters of his get, but I never saw one 
that any amount of training could make even a 2:40 
trotter of. Once it was plain to Governor Stanford 
that Mohawk Chief was not a gifted sire of trotters, 
Gen. Benton became lord of the harem, and Avhen, in 
1880, the then phenomenal performances of Fred 
Crocker gave a slight token of Electioneer's coming 
greatness, he became the pride of Palo Alto. Mohawk 
Chief has long been retired to " private life." 

For the purposes of this sketch of Palo Alto history 
merely a brief recapitulation of its campaigns are 
necessary, as the notable horses that have from time 
to time brought the stable fame and prestige are dealt 
with in their order in succeeding chapters. 

The principal horses in the " string" in my first cam- 
paign (1878), under Governor Stanford's colors, were 
Occident and Abe Edgington. Though Occident was 
only successful in one race, he was second tq Col. 
Lewis when that good horse made his record at Oak- 
land, California, going three heats in 2:18f, 2:19f, 2:21, 
Judge Fullerton being third. 

About a month later Occident beat Judge Fullerton, 
at Sacramento, in 2:23, 2:23^, 2:22. At Santa Clara, 
October 1st, Abe Edgington beat Doty, Coquette and 
Frank Ferguson in straight heats, taking a record of 
2:23f , which stands as his fastest mark. 

In 1879 we did not campaign to any extent, starting 



"WILnFLOWER AND HINDA K()8K. lOl 

only Occident and the brown gelding Capt. Smith, by 
Locomotive, out of the famous mare Maid of Clay, the 
dam of the stallion Clay, 2:25, and Carrie C, 2:24, two 
of Electioneers get that have since distinguished them- 
selves. AYe started at Sacramento, September 11th, 
where Capt. Smith was beaten by Del Sur, and Occi- 
dent by Nutwood. We started Occident a couple of 
weeks later, at San Jose, against Graves, and Graves 
won in straight heats in 2:20, 2:20, 2:23. This race 
ended the turf career of Occident. 

The following year, 1880, was a busier and more 
successful one for the stable, and it marked the debut 
of the first of the sensational youngsters that have 
come from Palo Alto, for in that year Fred Crocker 
lowered the two-year-old record to 2:25^. "We also 
campaigned Elaine, the half-sister to Electioneer, that 
season, and gave her a record of 2:20, and with Capt. 
Smith we beat Del Sur at Sacramento, giving him a 
record of 2:29. In ISSl Palo Alto brought out two 
other world-famous young performers in the yearling- 
filly Hinda Rose, and the two-year-old Wildflower, 
daughters of Electioneer. Ilinda Rose made a yearling 
recoi'd of 2:36^, and Wildflower a two-year-old record 
of 2:21, and the former record stood unbeaten for six 
years, while the latter was at the head of the list for 
seven years. On the same day that Hinda Rose made 
her record we gave Bonita a tw^o-vear-old record of 
2:24^, beating all performances except Wildflower's; 
and now the star of Electioneer was fairly started in 
its ascendant flight toward that high pinnacle of 
supremacy as a sire of 3'oung trotters where no rival 
has been able to approach it. 



102 TRAINING THE TKOTTING HOKSE. 

In 18S2 I started East with Wildflower and Hinda 
Hose, leaving Sacramento September 2(»th, and after 
winning the two stakes we went after, we returned 
home. In 1883 we again went East with Bonita, 
Hinda Rosa, and Wildflower, and the chief triumph of 
the campaign was Hinda Rose's lowering the three- 
year-old record to 2:19^, and Bonita also lowered the 
four-year-old record — 2:19, by Jay-E^^e-See — to 2:18f. 
"Wildflower sufl'ered from distemper all through the 
season. 

In 1884, owing to the death of the bright and well- 
beloved 3^outh, Leland Stanford, Jr., the Palo Alto 
stable did not campaign; but as Elvira, daughter of 
Cuyler, had taken the four-year-old honor back to Ken- 
tucky by trotting a mile in 2:18^, we took a few young- 
sters up to the Bay District track in the autumn, and 
besides giving Manzanita a two-year-old public trial of 
2:25, drove the four-year-old Sallie Benton, daughter of 
Gen. Benton, a mile in 2:17f , and thus the four-year-old 
banner was pulled down from the Glenview staff, and 
hoisted over Palo Alto, wdiere it yet remains, with 
"Manzanita, 2:16" blazoned on it. 

In 1885, about the last of July, we shipped East a 
strong stable of twelve trotters, among them Man- 
zanita, Sallie Benton, Sphinx, Carrie C, Palo Alto, 
Hinda Rose, St. Bel, Rexford and Chimes. We went 
direct to Rochester, thence to Albany, where Manzanita 
and Palo Alto each "walked over" for stakes. At 
Rochester two of the best strings in our bow snapped 
when Sallie Benton and Nellie Benton (a very promis- 
ing mare) broke down. Among our successes were the 
victory of Manzanita in the great three-year old race 



THE CAMPAIGN OF 1880. 103 

at Chicago, of Carrie C, over Princeton at Chicago, 
and of Sphinx over Nutbreaker at Alban3^ 

Early in the spring of 1886 we started East again 
with nine car-loads of horses, eight of which were con- 
signed to i^ew York for sale, the other containing the 
trotting stables, which consisted of Manzanita, Palo 
Alto, Hinda Rose, Spliinx, St. Bel, Chimes, Suisun and 
the bay gelding Commotion. We shipped this car 
direct to Louisville, whence I went to Xew York. On 
my return I found the horses all sick, raid but for the 
assistance of Dr. Coster, of the Haggin racing stable, 
we would have fared badly. From Louisville we went 
to Kalamazoo, where Palo Alto beat Victor and others, 
July 29th, in straight heats; and on July 1st he 
defeated Anniversary and live others in straight heats 
in a good race. Now we went to East Saginaw, where 
Palo Alto beat Wilton, Lucy Fry and others, taking a 
record of 2:20-^ in tlie fifth heat. Manzanita was 
second to Belle Hamlin in a fast race at the same 
meeting. At Detroit, Wilton turned the tables on 
Palo Alto in a grand race ; and at Cleveland the four- 
3'ear-old Manzanita was beaten, but not on her merits, 
by Belle Hamlin and a strong field of other aged 
liorses. Next we went to Maysville, Kentucky, where 
St. Bel took a four-year-old record of 2:24J in his first 
race. At Covington, Manzanita easily beat Eagle Bird 
in a stake race, and Palo Alto defeated Tom Pogers 
and others after a six-heat battle ; and at the same 
])lace St. Bel, Suisun and S])hinx also won races. Then 
we went to Lexington, Avhere Manzanita beat Green- 
lander, trotting the third heat in 2:16, Avhich still 
stands as the best on record for a four-3^ear-old. Here 



lOi TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

also Sphinx beat Castalia, and Suisun beat Ben Hur 
and others. Next we went to Cleveland, where Palo 
Alto defeated Deck Wright and other seasoned cam- 
paic^ners after a six-heat contest, and St. Bel w^on over 
a good field. Manzanita, Palo Alto, St. Bel and Sphinx 
put other victories to tlieir credit before we returned 
to Lexington for the fall meeting. In the three-year- 
old stake Sphinx was beaten by Bermuda and Nut- 
breaker, and Hinda Eose was unequal to the task of 
beating the great Patron, but Manzanita carried the 
stable's colors to victory over Greenlander and August 
Haverstick in the four-year-old stake. At St. Louis, 
October 5th, St. Bel was beaten by Astral, but on the 
7th Manzanita decisively defeated the Kentucky cham- 
pion four-year-old, Patron, in a great race in straight 
heats, and on the following day Palo Alto, by beating 
Charley Hogan and others, closed what was certainly 
a very successful season for the Palo Alto stable. The 
greatness of Electioneer now received marked recogni- 
tion, for Mr. Brodhead, of Woodburn, shipped with us 
Miss Kussell (the dam of Maud S., 2:08|), two of 
Maud S.'s sisters, a sister to Nutwood, and the dam of 
Pancoast to be bred to him. Though we got back 
home only three days before the Stanford Stake was 
trotted for, we started Rexford in that race, and beat 
Alcazar handil^^ 

In 1887 our stable was not in the best of condition. 
Clifton Bell, after bemg beaten by Tempest at Sacra- 
mento, came to the Bay District track and won a good 
race, afterward taking a record of 2:24^^. He was a 
four-year-old of great promise. Besides Clifton Bell 
we gave Ansel a record of 2:20, Maiden a three-year- 



A DISASTKOUS FIRE. lU5 

old record of 2:23, Alban a record of 2:24, Carlisle a 
record of 2:28|, and AVhips a record of 2:27^. But the 
triumph of the year was not with the " grown-u]) " 
colts, but with a tender youngster. After the news 
came from Kentuck}'^ that Sudie J), had lowered the 
yearling record of Hinda Rose to 2:35| on October 
15th, we went to work with Norlaine (by Xorval, son 
of Electioneer, out of Elaine, 2:20), and on Xovember 
12th sent them back an answer of 2:31|^ for a yearling 
record. 

A great calamity befell Palo Alto in April, 1SS8. 
"We had a formidable stable ready for the summer cam- 
paign, when, on the night of April 17th, a destructive 
lire broke out in the training-stable nearest the track, 
in which were twenty-two horses, including the cream 
of our "string." Nine were burned to death, viz.: 
Rexford, 2:23; Clifton Bell, 2:24; Norlaine, 2:31^, the 
great yearling ; Kriss Kringle, that had gone a mile in 
2:24 ; Cedric and Lowell, three-year-olds, that could 
both beat 2:30 in their two-year-old form ; Howard, a 
phenomenon that I regarded as one of the greatest 
young horses we ever had, and two geldings that had 
beaten 2:30. Palo Alto and Arodi, bv Piethnont, were 
badly burned. Thus as strong a stable as Palo Alto 
ever had was utterly demoralized. AVe had then to 
take up a new lot of horses, including some that had 
been turned out as not being very promising. Not- 
withstanding this, we in 1888 lowered the two-year-old 
record to 2:18 with Sunol and gave the following otlier 
horses records : Palo Alto Belle (two-year-old), 2:28^ ; 
Azmoor, 2:24|; Cubic, 2:28^; Ella, 2:29, and Express, 
2:29^. 



106 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

Tlie Palo Alto triumphs of 1889 are fresh in every 
one's memory. Sunol lowered the three-year-old rec- 
ord of the world to 2:10^, and Palo Alto trotted in 
2:1 2^, faster than any stallion ever trotted previous to 
1889. Express lowered his record to 2:21 ; Sport and 
Lorita, botli by Piedmont, each trotted to a record of 
2:22| ; Carlisle lowered his record to 2:26^, Marion 
trotted in 2:26f , Arol made a record of 2:24, Emaline a 
record of 2:27^, Pedlar a two-year-old record of 2:27^, 
and Del Mar a two-year-old record of 2:30. This 
makes certainly a brilliant record for a season. 



SKKTCIIKS OF FAMOTS ANIMALS. lOi 



CHAPTER YIIL 

SKETCHES OF FAMOUS ANIMALS TRAINED AT PALO ALTO 

THE STARS OF TEN YEARS AGO OCCIDENT THE FIRST 

HORSE TO BEAT 2:17 THE STRANGE HISTORY OF HIS 

SIRE OLD ST. CLAIR — ABE EDGINGTON THE HALF 

BROTHERS, CLAY AND CAPT. SMITH THE GREAT MARE 

ELAINE, 2:20 — FRED CROCKER, THE FIRST PALO ALTO 
RECORD-BREAKER. 

I HAVE now outlined in as brief a manner as possible 
the general history of Palo Alto, but the scope of the 
foregoing chapters would not admit of justice being 
done each of the greater horses mentioned that liave 
earned world-wide fame. Every horseman will, I 
know, be glad to have some more definite account of 
such great horses as Palo Alto, Sunol, Manzanita, 
Ilinda Rose, etc., and I now propose to give sketches 
of each in turn, relating their individual characteristics, 
their breeding, their history, and important facts bear- 
ing on their training. Though I am averse to devot- 
ing too much of the space of this book to historical 
writing, or to story-telling, the reader will not fail to 
appreciate the fact that this matter is really illustra- 
tive of our system of training, and is necessary to a 
proper understanding of it, and of what it has accom- 
plished and can accomplish. Just as the history of 
(Smuggler had its lessons to the trainer, so the history 



108 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

of every one of the Palo Alto stars has had its lessons, 
and the training of each one contributed its share in 
showing Avhere improvements can be learned in the 
details of developing trotting horses. I will not, of 
course, attempt to sketch all of the horses I have 
trained and driven to fast records, but will confine my- 
self chiefly to the great performers, who have made 
themselves an enduring name in trotting history. 

It being desirable in a measure to observe chrono- 
logical order, we will begin with the earlier trotters 
rather than with the greater ones. As already noted, 
Occident and Abe Edgington were the first horses I 
worked at Palo Alto, and as these horses were " made" 
before they reached my hands. I must be brief with 
them. 

Occident was a brown gelding, foaled in 1863, and 
was bred by a Mr. Shaw in the Sacramento Valley. 
His pedigree did not amount to much, but the blood of 
his grandsire, St. Clair, has been made famous by such 
trotters as Manzanita, 2:16; Bonita, 2:18|^; Wildflower, 
2:21, and Fred Crocker, 2:251 Old St. Clair, the 
pacer, was an "overland horse" that came across the 
plains, from no one knows where to California in 1849. 
He worked as a dray-horse in the streets of Sacra- 
mento, and later as leader in a stage team, but was 
finally, after he was foundered and good for nothing 
else, put into the stud in that city by Mr. John Miller, 
and was burned to death about 1864. Besides Doc, the 
sire of Occident, he sired Lady St. Clair that has the 
fastest five-mile pacing record in the world — 12:54f, 
made in 1874. His son. Doc, got only a few foals, and 
died on his way to Oregon about twenty-five years ago. 



THE SIKK OF OCCIDENT. lOD 

Occident's clam was a little bay iiiare, not quite 15 
hands high, that came probably from Lower (California. 
Occident had the usual life of a scrub with more than 
the usual hardships, until when he was three or four 
years old he in some way got into a ''scrub race" and 
won it. Then a man named Eldred beffiin training; 
him, and with such good results that he became quite 
a sensation. Finalh^, Governor Stanford paid about 
$5,000 for him, and he had gone so fast tliat his first 
race was against no less a competitor than Goldsmith 
Maid. This was in October, 1872, and the Maid 
won in straight heats. Next he tried conclusions with 
old Lucy, at San Francisco, and she distanced him in 
2:20 in the second heat. The fastest heat that had ever 
been trotted up to this time was 2:17^, made by Gold- 
smith Maid when she defeated Lucy in September, 
1872. In 1873 the California State Fair offered a 
valuable piece of plate for Occident to beat this record, 
-and at the Fair at Sacramento, September 17, 1873, he 
broke that record, trotting the mile in 2:16f . The next 
year he was beaten by Sam Purdy, but later beat 
Judge Fullerton, trotting the second heat of his race 
in 2:18. Then he was taken East by Budd Doble, but 
never started, owing to trouble with his feet. Doble 
"Dunbared" his feet, which process consists in cutting- 
down the foot, sole, and frog, and shoeing with the 
shoe nailed w^ell back on the heel, after which a 
"spreader," with spreading screws, is put in. He was 
brought back, and, after a long vacation, came into my 
hands in 1878, and won another good race against 
Judge Fullerton, as related in the last chapter. 

Occident was a mixed o^aited horse, and would amble 



110 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

arid break in the most annoying manner, and, as usual 
with a horse so strongly inclined to pace when he 
broke, he made standstill breaks. After I had him 
awhile I taught him to break better, and once drove 
him a quarter, with a break in it, in thirty-three 
seconds. He went a mile for me over the Palo Alto 
track, which was forty-fiv^e feet long, in 2:19. He was 
a little dark bay, or brown horse, weighing about 900 
pounds, very compactly built, of pacing form, with a 
very steep rump, a handsome head, and legs of iron. 
He never was Occident while I had hiiH, and Governor 
Stanford has expressed to me his belief that had our 
methods been followed with him when young he 
would have trotted as fast a mile as any horse of 
our day. 

The grey gelding Abe Edgington was an Ohio bred 
horse. He was by Stockbridge Chief Jr., a grandson 
of Vermont Black Hawk. His first notable perform- 
ance was at San Francisco, May 11, 1875, in a match 
with the brown gelding Defiance, by Chieftain. This 
horse had made a pacing record of 2:17f two years 
before, and had then been put to trotting, and in the 
spring of 1875 Avas matched against Edgington for 
$10,000 a side. Defiance was beaten, though he won 
the first heat in 2:21^, and the third in 2:29. Governor 
Stanford, I understand, paid a long price for Edging- 
ton — $20,000 it was said to be. Doble took him East 
when he took Occident, and had better luck with him, 
winning two or three good races, and once beating 
among others the fast mare Belle Brasfield. I have 
already detailed what he did after I went to Palo Alto 
in 1878. 



CAPT. SMITH AND CLAY. Ill 

Abe Edgingtoii was a peculiar sort of horse to train. 
He did best with about thirteen ounces on liis front 
feet, though he could trot faster with eight, but could 
not get away fast. Hence he was at a disatl vantage in 
starting. When he came into my hands he was in 
about as bad condition as a horse could be to prepare, 
and we experimented on him with the new S3'stem of 
training before we understood how to apply that 
system. So some allowances must be made, and I will 
here say that though his record is only 2:23|, I have 
always believed that Edgington was the superior of 
Occident as a race-horse. He was an iron-gray, sixteen 
hands high, and would turn the scale at 1,050 pounds 
when in good shape. He was a stoutly-built horse, 
high at the wither and up-headed and lofty in carriage, 
and, as a show-horse or " parader," would attract 
marked attention anywhere. He was used m Governor 
Stanford's photographic work, illustrating the actual 
movements of the fast trotting-horse. 

Capt. Smith, the brown gelding by Locomotive, out 
of Maid of Clay, was a much faster horse than his 
record indicates, but he became a bad puller, and little 
could be done with him. We drove this horse a quar- 
ter close to thirty-one seconds, and a mile in 2:21 as a 
four-year-old, but this clip made his head swim. The 
onl}'' race he ever won was against Del Sur, at Sac- 
ramento, September 24, 1880, and there are certain 
things connected with that race that fastens it pretty 
securely in my mind. We won it finally, but, as Splan 
would say, I had to " hustle " all I knew how to get there. 
Capt. Smith won the first heat in 2:29, and then Del 
Sur cut loose and won the second and third in 2:25 and 



112 TUAINING THE TROTTING IIOKSE. 

2:28. The bettino- was now $100 to $S against Capt. 
Smith, and the prospect looked rather shady. In the 
next heat I laid Capt. Smith right on Del Sur's wheel 
and stuck "closer than a brother" to him for about 
seven-eighths of the mile. Then I pulled the Captain 
out, and carrying Del Sur to a tired break, just won in 
2:32. Now consternation reigned around* the pool-box. 
Strong influence was brought to bear on me not to win 
the deciding heat — influence not from the Del Sur peo- 
ple, but from parties who had "got into the box" the 
wrong way, and who, though it was their duty to look 
after Governor Stanford's interests, endeavored, by 
coaxing and tlireatening, to have me allow the I*alo 
Alto horse to be beaten. I told these gentlemen tliat 
if they wanted to save their money, and could not 
" hedge," I failed to see any help for them unless night 
or something else would suddenly come and cause a 
postponement. Del Sar was not a game horse, and I 
had not much trouble in beating him in the last heat. 

The gelding Clay was a half brother to Capt. Smith, 
being by Fred Low (or St. Clair, 656, as he is recorded), 
out of ]\[aid of Clay. He was a little black fellow that 
would not weigh more than 710 pounds, but he was a 
much faster horse than Capt. Smith. Judiciously 
handled, 2:20 would not have stopped him, but we gave 
him too much fast work against the watch. Like 
Capt. Smith, he became an inveterate puller — one of 
the kind that would look the driver square in the face. 
He won a few good races for the farm, and took a 
record of 2:25i in 1881. 

Elaine was another trotter whose career was marred 
by that generally incurable fault — pulling. This mare 



THE GREAT ELAINE. 113 

was bred by Mr. (Charles Backraan, at Stony Ford, Xew 
York, and was got by Messenger Duroc, out of Green 
Mountain Maid, the dam of Electioneer. "When Gover- 
nor (Stanford bought Electioneer and a number of 
others from Mr. Backman in 1876, the brown filly 
Elaine was among them, and for her he gave §T,<Hio. 
She did not come to California with the others, but 
was left in Carl Burr's hands. Burr worked her easily 
through the winter of 187G-77, and fitted her for her 
engagement the following summer. At Hartford, in 
September, 1877, in a three-year-old stake, she dis- 
tanced her field in the second heat in 2:28, thus break- 
ing the three-year-old record. A year hiter. Burr gave 
her a record of 2:24^, making the four-year-old record 
cf that day. She then came home to Palo Alto. We 
did not work her much as a five-year old, she having 
injured her leg by stepping in a gopher hole. She 
developed into a mare of fine size, standing about 15.2, 
and of good form, with a great deal of natural S]ieed. 
In her six-year-old form — 1880 — we started her at San 
Francisco, September 22d, against Gibraltar, Reliance, 
and Echora, and won in straight heats in 2:21:^, 2:22^, 
2:24. At San Jose, October 6th, she beat Bateman 
and Brigadier in a better race. Time — 2:20f, 2:21^, 
2:21^. I should here state that she was not an abso- 
lutel}^ sound mare in tliese races, nor in the one with 
Santa Claus to which I am about to refer. In 1879 I 
worked her a fast half, and not wishing to send her 
right up to her limit, I twice took her back in the trial, 
but still she covered the distance in 1:05 flat. After 
this one of the rear flexor tendons gave way, and 
though we kept her up ])retty well the two races just 



114 TRAINING THE TKOTTING HOKSE. 

mentioned had their effect, and when she started 
against Santa Claus, November 13th, she was lame, 
and wore a rubber bandage to support the strained 
ligament. Still she made Santa Claus trot five heats 
to win. The time of the race shows that it was a good 
one— 2:20, 2:18, 2:20*, 2:18^, 2:20— Elaine winning the 
first and third heats. Santa Claus was a good race- 
horse, and it took a good horse nine years ago to force 
one of his class to trot five heats averaging better than 
2:20. Elaine was a very rapid-gaited mare, and had, 
as I have shown, a world of speed, but her propensity 
for pulling on the bit made it difficult, and, indeed, 
impossible to properly control that speed, ami so dis- 
tribute or rate it over a mile as to show by the 
figures of a mile record just what her capacit}'" 
w-as. She was somewhat peculiar in her gait. She 
might be going well and fast, and a^ou could 
chirrup to her and she would respond, but the 
increase in her speed would be so gradual that she 
would have gone perliaps a hundred yards before 
3'ou could detect that she had quickened her pace, but 
by that time it would be terrific speed. Her increase 
of speed was almost imperceptible, like the gradual 
gain of a wheel gathering speed from its own 
momentum. Elaine has better legs than the most of 
the Messenger Duroc family, and, barring Electioneer, 
was by far the best of Governor Stanford's purchases 
from Mr. Backman. Her daughter, the fleet and 
beautiful, but ill-starred Norlaine, had not exactly her 
action, but we have, at Palo Alto, in Anselma, a 
daughter of Ansel's and her's, a young mare gaited 
exactly like Elaine. 



FKKl) CROCKER, 115 

Even in tliese fast days t\vo-3'ear-olds that can trot 
in 2:25^ are rather scarce, and when we remember that 
the record of 2:31, which So So made at Lexington, 
Kentncky, in 1877, stood unciiallenged for three 
years, it is easy to understand the sensation made by 
Fred Crocker and Sweetheart in 18S0, for until that 
3'ear no one hati ever seen a two-year-cld that could 
beat 2:30. 

Fred Crocker was foaled March 23, 1878, the son of 
Electioneer, and Melinche, a mare by old Saint Clair, 
whose history we have already referred to. He was a 
well-shaped bay colt, and has developed into a tall and 
stout good-looking horse. I broke him in the winter 
of 1880, little having been previously done with him, 
as Governor Stanford had decided not to trot any colts 
under three years of age. The summer previous he 
and Bentonian, son of Gen. Benton, had shown the 
best of all our yearlings lot-trotting, and it was exer- 
cising these 3^oungsters in this way that we first 
thought of the idea of the miniature track that has 
since played so great a part in our system of training. 
At the proper place the evolution of this " kinder- 
garten" will be fully related. In the spring of- 1880, 
the directors of the California State Fair adv^ertised a 
stake race for two-year olds, and then Governor Stan- 
ford reconsidered his resolution about not trotting 
colts under three years old. We pitched upon Fred 
Crocker as the most likely one of our two-year-olds to 
represent the farm in the stake, and, on June 5th, I 
began preparing the young gelding for the event. I 
found that he could brush fast, but could not go a 
quarter faster than forty-five seconds. I worked him 



116 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

along on a sort of compromise between the old and 
the new way of training colts, very seldom working 
full miles, but giving him a good many fast halves, and 
under this treatment he progressed very well, but not 
so fast as we have since brought along 3"oungsters 
whose early education was more intelligently directed. 
The-race was advertised for September 15th, at Sacra- 
mento. We were not over-confident, for we knew that 
Mr. L. J. Rose's filly Sweetheart, by Sultan, had 
trotted in 3:07 as a yearling, and the reports of the 
doings of the Los Angeles mare were very favorable. 
She won the stake in straight heats- — 2:31|^, 2:32^ — 
but Crocker gave her a good race, and in the esti- 
mation of many the second heat should have been 
awarded to him. The next day — the same day that 
Capt. Smith beat Del Sur, as already related — Mr. 
Rose sent his great mare against So So's two-year-old 
record (2:31), and she beat it handsomely in 2:26|^, and 
all California was fired with honest pride, for a Cali- 
fornian youngster had beaten the two-year-old record 
of the world, and those who foretold the great ]:)ossi- 
bilities of the State as a horse-breeding region felt that 
their arguments had been eloquently and conclusively 
vindicated. It was a great day for the flower}^ land 
south of the Sierra Madre range — a great day for the 
San Gabriel farm, for the pojiular Mr. Rose, and for 
Sultan. And while we of the Palo Alto neighborhood, 
believing that California should have the two-year-old 
record, rejoiced and were proud of Sweetheart's per- 
formance, we still thought that the record-holder 
should hail from the Santa Clara valley, rather than 
the San Gabriel Valley, and accordingly set to work to 



CHAMPION TWO-YEAR-OLD. 117 

eclipse Sweetheart's triumph. We were handicapped 
by Crocker's having a bad leg, and we had to proceed 
cautiously ; and final]\' the leg gave way altogether, 
but not until he had done w^hat was asked of him. So, 
on the day that Elaine raced with Santa Claus, we 
started Crocker to beat 2:30, and he did it in 2:28^, and 
a week later — November 20th — he started to beat 
2:28^, and not only did tliat, but broke Sweetheart's 
record, trotting the mile at the third attempt in 2:25^, 
and he w^as at once the sensation of the day. Palo 
Alto had achieved its first great triumph as a "nursery 
of trotters," and Electioneer had given thus early an 
earnest of what he would accomplish with time and 
opportunity as a producer of phenomenal trotting- 
speed. Still no one dreamed then that the triumphs 
of Palo Alto would be what they have been — no one 
dreamed that Fred Crocker was a forerunner of that 
glorious host of record-breakers that have so irresisti- 
bly demonstrated the greatness of its blood and the 
fitness of its methods of breeding and training. 



118 TRAINING THE TROTTING HOESE. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE GREAT TRIO, WILDFLOWER, BONITA AND HINDA ROSE 

WILDFLOWER, THE TWO-YEAR-OLD CHAMPION OF HER 
DAY BONITA A GREAT TWO-YEAR-OLD, AND CHAM- 
PION FOUR-YEAR-OLD HINDA ROSE, CHAMPION YEAR- 
LING AND CHAMPION THREE-YEAR-OLD OF HER TIME 

HER GREAT CAMPAIGN OF 1883 HOW SHE WAS SHOD 

AND BALANCED THE CAREER OF THE FASTEST YOUNG 

TROTTERS THAT HAD YET BEEN PRODUCED A STORY 

OF RECORD-BREAKING BY PALO ALTO COLTS HINDA 

rose's FAMOUS BROTHER, ST. BEL HIS PURE GAIT, 

AND HIS RESOLUTE PERFORMANCES. 

The next two year-old sensation after Fred Crocker 
was the bay filly Wildflower, by Electioneer, out of 
Mayflower, by St. Clair. Mayflower was an old-time 
California trotter herself, having a record of 2:30|^, and 
besides Wildflower, she produced the famous mare 
Manzanita, who holds the four-3"ear-old record of the 
world. Wildflower was foaled \larch 23, 18Y9. Al- 
though I did not handle her in her babyhood or drive 
her to her record, I studied her in all her Avork, and 
became very thoroughly acquainted with her after- 
ward. Wildflower had perhai)s as much natural speed 
as any animal bred at Palo Alto, and great as was her 
two-year-old achievement, it was hardly made under 
the most favorable auspices. Wildflower was not 
judiciously worked in her two-year-old form — indeed, 



\VI1.I)FI.()\VKR, 2:21 AT TWO YEARS. 119 

she was greatly overworked — and it is but fair to say 
that she had never shown anything to warrant the ex- 
pectation that slie would beat Fred Crocker's record. 
Indeed her doing so was a genuine surprise to all, and 
to none more than her driver. But owing to bad 
weather and other causes she got just the rest she 
needed, and was fresh and full of speed when the hour 
of trial came. This was the 22d of October, 1881, at 
the Bay District Track, San Francisco. She was 
driven by Henry MacGregor, and he drove her with 
much patience and excellent judgment. She took the 
word at the first score, went to the qnarter in 0:35^; 
to the half in 1:09|^; made the third quarter in 0:35^, 
and finished in 2:21 — thus handsomely beating the two- 
year-old by four and a quarter seconds, and setting a 
mark that the world aimed at in vain for seven years, 
and that was not beaten until another Palo Alto filly — 
Sunol— did it in 1888. 

My first trip from Palo Alto, aiming at conquest on 
Eastern tracks, was with Wildflower and Hinda Rose, 
in 1882. We started the former at Fleetwood Par-k, 
New York, October 5, 1882, in a three-year-old stake 
worth winning against Meander, by Belmont, Senator 
Sprague, Lucy Walters, and Ernest Maltravers. She 
won the first heat very easily in 2:32. Maltravers 
was then drawn, and in the second heat, wdiich 
Wildflower won in 2:27^, Lucy Walters and Sena- 
tor Sprague were distanced. Meander getting second 
money. This is the only race that AVildflower ever 
trotted. She had no further engagements in the 
East that year, and after Ilinda Pose iiad filled hers 
we returned home. The next spring when we again 



120 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

crossed the mountains AYildflower (^ot down with dis- 
temper, from which she has never recovered and the 
evidence of whicli she will always cany. She broke 
out in sores, which have left their scars, and the 
membranes of the nostrils were so affected that she 
"whistles" in her ordinary breathing. This attack 
was very unfortunate, for we expected — and had a 
right to expect — brilliant things of Wildflower in her 
maturer years. She was a great mare after the Fleet- 
wood race, and could most undoubtedly have played 
with any three year-old of her year. She was a pure- 
gaited, easy-going mare, had abundant natural speed, 
and was game and resolute. She would respond to 
the extent of her ability to every call. She is now a 
fine-looking brood-mare, and has already given evidence 
that it is not unreasonable to expect that some of her 
children will be as great as herself. 

The little mare Bonita was another wonderfully fast 
two year-old, and, more fortunate than Wildflower, 
encountered nothing to prevent her training on "to 
greater things." She was foaled May 21, 1879, and is 
bred in lines of blood almost identical to those of 
Wildflower and Manzanita, being by Electioneer, out 
of Mayfly, 2:30^, by St. Clair. Mayfly was, like May- 
flower, among the fastest Californian trotters of twenty 
years ago, and it is something of a coincidence that 
these two daughters of St. Clair, great trotters in their 
day and with records almost equal, should each in her 
turn produce, by the one sire, a daughter to break the 
four-year-old record of the world. It is only another 
proof that speed is not accidental, but an inherent 
quality of the blood. Though from the loins of Elec- 



TIIK FAST LITTLE BONITA. 121 

tioneer greatness has sprung in all places anil flour- 
ished in all directions, the success, in a speed-producing 
sense, of the combination of his blood with that of 
these trotting-daughters of old St. Clair has been most 
striking, and has brought the name of the ]>lebeian 
old-timer out of tiie obscurit}^ that would have forever 
enveloped it but for the speed of Electioneer's gifted 
dauohters — Manzanita, Bonita and Wildflower. 

Bonita was worked in her younger days by Henry 
McGregor, and shortly, after Wildflower took her 2:21 
record, Bonita made a two-}' ear-old record of 2:24|^, 
thus placing the flrst, second and third fastest two- 
3^ear-old recoi'd to the credit of Palo Alto. Had 
Bonita accomplished this hefore Wildflower trotted in 
2:21 it would have made a great sensation ; but good 
as her performance was, it was made under the shadow 
of the dazzling feat of Wildflower. The glamor thrown 
around the latter's achievement made the record of the 
former seem somewhat commonplace, and the ap])lause 
was measured accordingly. Whether 3'ou are flrst or 
second makes all the difference in the world. 

I w^orked Bcmita as a three-year-old, but did not 
start her that 3' ear, I being most of the season in the 
East with Hinda Kose and Wildflower. But she was 
taken East, in 1883, in compan3^ with the mares just 
named, and, after an unsuccessful start against Eva and 
others, at Chicago, had a walk-over at Hartford, for a 
four-3^ear-old stake, October 4th. The day was bad 
and no attempt was made to go a fast mile, but Bonita 
showed the public a quarter in tliirt\^-one and three- 
fourths seconds. The f our- v ear-old record of 2:19 that 
had been made by Ja3'-Eve-See still stood, and, as 



122 TRAINING THE TROTTING HjRSE. 

Bonita had now rounded to, I determined to send her 
against it. 

This was done at the Lexington meeting October 
11th, and the rapid httle mare beat old Father Time 
in fine style in 2:18f, thus putting another best on-record 
to the credit of the Electioneers. As already stated 
our horses did not campaign in 1884, nor did we start 
Bonita in 1885, though she was kept in training. In 
the spring of 1886 she was sold to Colonel Lawrence 
Ivipp, of New York, and in due time went into the 
hands of my friend, James Golden, of Boston, who 
campaigned her down the Grand Circuit in the 2:19 
class, where she encountered such good race-horses as 
Arab, Mambrino Sparkle and Oliver K. She won at 
Albany, beating Felix and Billy Button in 2:21, 2:2(1^, 
2:19^, and at Hartford she defeated Charles Hilton, 
Charley Hogan, AVilliam Arthur and Felix in straight 
heats in 2:22|-, 2:18^^, 2:20f, thus lowering her record a 
fraction. Later she was sold to Mr. Shults, of Park- 
ville, and campaigned, but with no success, and as. 
Indeed, none of the Parkville horses have been very 
successful, it may be that Bonita, a difficult mare to 
train and manage at best, and a somewhat " sour " one, 
did not take kindly to the training at the big Long- 
Island Farm. 

Hinda Rose was our first youngster that earned 
fame at the early period of yearling form. She was 
foaled February 22, 1880, and is a brown mare, by 
Electioneer, out of Beautiful Bells, 2:29^, by The Moor, 
the sire of Sultan. Beautiful Bells, all things consid- 
ered, IS the greatest producer of speed that ever lived. 
Four of her get are in the 2:30 list, and two of them — 



#^ ■'■'T^rM^^^ ' 






H 



I, # 



:% 






:s! 


u 


m 


OQ 




o 


< 


K 


Id 




>< 


< 


TO 


Q 


< 


2 


Q 

OS 


t— H 


o 


^ 


u 

Cd 




Di 



How HIND A KOSK WAS WORKED. 12^^ 

Bell Boy and Ilinda Hose — beat 2:20 in tlieir three- 
year old form, while aiiothei" — Palo Alto Belle — has a 
three-year-old record of 2:22^^. The dam of Beautiful 
Bells was Minnehaha, the dam of Sweetheart, and four 
others in the 2:30 list ; so our filly was bred well enough 
for a world-beater to begin with. She was well broken 
early, and in her yearling foi*m I began working her. 
Her serious training began July 5, 1881; I had now 
gotten well into the Palo Alto system of training, and 
could work "the new fangied ideas" ])retty skillfull}'. 
She was worked on the method described in chaj)ters 
further on, until Xovember 5th, the date of her first 
public performance. The yearling record was then 
2:56f , and at the Bay District Track a set of harness 
was offered to yearlings to trot against this record. 
The first trial was made by the filly Pride, by Bucca- 
neer, owned by Count Yalensin, and driven by John 
Goldsmith, who has since handled Guy Wilkes, Sable 
Wilkes, and other horses so successfully for Mr. Cor- 
bitt. Pride made the mile in 2:11^. I then drov^e 
Ilinda Rose and she went from wire to wire in 2:13^. 
On the 21:th we gave her another trial, when she went 
in 2:36|^, and this stood as the yearling record until 
1888, when it was lowered successfully by the Ken- 
tucky filly, Sudie D, and our lost Palo Alto star, Nor- 
laine. In her two-year-old form Ilinda Rose was quite 
unsteady. She had carried a nine-ounce shoe as a year- 
ling, and in her first easy work as a two-year-old I 
began with her barefooted, the only weight she carried 
being her quarter boots. Then she was lightly shod, 
and still acting as tho'-'.gh she wanted more weight to 
balance her, I kept increasing until she carried eighteen 



124 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

ounces. She, as I have said, acted unsteadily, and the 
then superintendent of Palo Alto declared that the 
fault was in her head, that her dam was rattle-headed, 
and that before Hinda Rose ever amounted to any- 
thing the driver would have to furnish her with "a 
new set of brains." My next experiment was to take 
off the shoes, and drive her barefooted awhile. Then 
I put on eight-ounce shoes, and fixed her out with 
three-ounce toe-weights. I would jog her about two 
miles, and when ready to speed would put on the toe- 
weights. I had no more trouble with her after this, 
and she was trained successfully in this way without 
performing any operation on her brain. According to 
the old-fashioned rule, I should have kept on piling on 
weight, but when I got up to eighteen ounces I con- 
cluded that we had got past the right point, and would 
have to go back and start over again. More horses are 
suffering from carrying too much weight than from 
carrying too little weight. 

I took Ilinda Rose East in 1882, as she was engaged 
in a stake race at Lexington. She had a good field 
against her, those that afterward became most noted 
being Fugue, 2:17|^, by King Rene; Early Dawn, 2:21^; 
Wilkes Boy, 2:24^, and Lizzie Wilkes, 2:22f, a great 
ao-o-regation of Wilkes talent. I need not take up the 
reader's time in details of the race. Fugue won the 
first heat in 2:36f , distancing two of the field, Lexing- 
ton Wilkes and Strathblane. Then Hinda Rose went 
on and won the second heat in 2:32, distancing all but 
Fugue, and in the deciding heat she easily beat Fugue 
in the same time. 

Hinda Rose opened her campaign of 1883 at Chi- 



IIINDA KOSE AND ELVIRA. 125 

oago, Jnl}^ 2(>th, starting for the Ashland Stakes, for 
three-year-olds, against the great Glenview mare 
Elvira, by Cuyler, and Major MacDowell's Fugue. 
Hinda won the race in straight heats without much 
trouble. She moved a trifle hime before the race, but 
won the first heat from Fugue in a jog in 2:31^, the 
track being heavy. Elvira made a bid for the second 
heat, but could not driv^e Hinda Rose out faster than 
2:29|, which, however, left Fugue outside the flag. 
The third heat we won very easily from Elvira in 
2:31^. Hinda Rose's next race was at Cynthiana, 
Kentucky, where she again easily beat Fugue, in an 
uneventful contest ; and at Lexington, a week later, she 
Avon the Mechanical Stakes in straight heats, beating 
Fugue, Lizzie Wilkes and Early Dawn, trotting the 
third heat in 2:23 We had Hinda Rose entered in the 
three-year-old stake, worth $2,500, of the National 
Breeders' Association, so we now journeyed North to 
Hartford, Connecticut, to win it. The fastest three- 
jear-old record at this time was 2:21, made by Phil 
Thompson, at Chicago, in 1881. As Hinda Rose was 
now rounding into great form, I determined to send her 
against that record at Hartford. It so happened that 
no other three-year-old cared to meet her for the rich 
stake, and she had a walk-over ; but the public knew 
better after the walk-over than before it that there was 
no three-year-old on the turf that could give Hinda 
Rose a race. The day, October 3d, was raw, cold and 
windy, the track heavy and damp in spots, and the 
conditions not at all favorable for record-breaking. She 
trotted the first quarter in thirty-four seconds, went to 
the half in 1:10, and, though meeting a strong wind 



126 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

when she turned into the stretch, she made the second 
half as fast as the first, finishing the mile without a 
skip or a falter in 2:20. In the full flush of this lionor 
she went to Lexington, and on October 10th eclipsed 
her own performance. Wilkes Boy and Fugue started 
against her in the stake for three-year-olds at this 
meeting. It is not necessary to take much space to 
tell so short a story even though the race resulted in 
putting on record a mark that stood unbeaten for four 
years. The first two heats she had only an exercise 
jog in 2:28f and 2:32, but in the third heat I drove her 
for a record, and she trotted the mile in 2:19^, Wilkes 
Bo}^ and her old enemy Fugue being distanced. Fngue 
was a good mare, but she could never meet Ilinda 
Rose at an}' time or place but she met her master. 

With this race Hinda Rose finished her campaign of 
1883 in a blaze of glory. She had won everything she 
started for during the year, never being beaten a 
single heat, and outclassing everything of her age in 
the East, 

Ilinda Rose did nothing in public in ISS-i beyond 
trotting a mile in 2:20^ at San Francisco in an unsuc- 
cessful attempt to beat Elvira's four-year-old record of 
2:18^, which we, after failing with Hinda Rose, suc- 
ceeded in beating witli Sallie Benton, Though Ilinda 
Rose was in our stable in the East in 1885 she was 
never ready to start, and in 1880 she only started once, 
at Lexington, October 1st, where she, in company with 
Tom Rogers, C. F. Clay and Olaf, was beaten by 
Patron ; but the defeat was handsomely avenged a 
few days later at St, Louis by her stable-companion 
Manzanita, when, in a great race, she defeated Patron 




w ?:• 

m o 
o 

CO 



m- 



THE BLACK COLT ST. BEL. 127 

for the champion four-year-old honors. Hinda Rose 
was not herself either in 1885 or 1886, showing symp- 
toms of breaking- down, which precluded a proper 
preparation. Indeed, as in the case of Wildtiower, 
though of course to a much smaller extent, distemper 
left its permanent effect on Hinda Rose. We have 
waited and worked patiently but vainly with tliis great 
mare in recent seasons, hoping that she would stand 
training again, believing that if she could be thor- 
oughly prepared she would trot to a record "not far 
from the head." 

The black colt St. Bel was the third member of the 
Beautiful Bells family in point of age, and was the 
next after Hinda Rose to earn distinction on the turf. 
I broke him at eight months old, and had him going 
nicely for his age, when I went East in 188:3 with 
Hinda Rose, Bonita and Wildflower. On returning, I 
found him and Manzanita somewhat broken up, and 
both were some time in "rounding to" again. He did 
not make his first public appearance until 1885, in 
which year he accompanied the stable in its Eastern 
campaign. His maiden race was on a muddy track in 
the "National Trotting- Stallion Stakes for foals of 
1882," at Albany, September 14th, and he won it easily 
in straight heats, quite outclassing his onl}^ op])onent, 
and not having to go faster than 2:45 to win. This 
was his only start in 1885, but he was a colt that 
took his work well and showed steady improve- 
ment, and was quite a " bread - winner " in our sta- 
ble the following season, although he contracted a 
severe cold crossing the mountains that year. His 
initial race was at Maysville, Kentucky, August 18th, 



128 TRAIXING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

in the 2:35 class, iind there were among others in 
the field Baron AVilkes, Strathblane, Oriana and 
Guitar, that are all performers of good reputation. 
St. Bel won in straight heats, trotting the first heat in 
2:28|, the time of the other heats being 2:e30 and 2:31. 
Two days later he started in the 2:27 class, the best 
material in the field against him being Astral, that has 
now a record of 2:18, and Olaf, present record 2:22. 
St. Bel had not shown liking for trotting in company. 
He suffered all summer from the effects of his cold 
and lacked education especially in scoring. He would 
break badly in starting, and as a temporary expedient 
I put a little weight on him and it did steady him, but 
took away some of his speed. Olaf won the first and 
second heats in 2:23, 2:21:|-, St. Bel second in each, and 
in the third heat St. Bel beat Olaf to the wire in 2:24|^, 
but the latter won the deciding heat in 2:22f . On the 
25th, St. Bel easily beat a field of six in the 2:35 class 
at Covington, in straight heats, in 2:2Tf, 2:29, 2:29. 
Three days later he got third place in a field of ten, 
the winner being the bay gelding Clipper. It was a 
five-heat race, and St. Bel did better in the last heats 
of the race than at the beginning for he was always 
resolute. Greenlander won the first heats in 2:21^, 
2:25, St. Bel being seventh and eighth. The third heat 
Clipper won in 2:23^, Greenlander second, and St. Bel 
fourth. In the fourth and fifth heats St. Bel beat 
Greenlander out, finishing second in each. Ho did 
himself credit, for though he had scarcely speed enough 
that day, he showed great stamina. The horse that 
fio^hts a o-ame and determined losino^ battle meets the 
true racehorse test. In his next race St. Bel demon- 



ST. BEL SOLD. 129 

fitrated that he was a stayer in a still more emphatic 
manner. This was at the Cleveland Fall Meeting, 
September 15th, when we started him against a strong 
field of aged horses in the 2:25 class. St. Bel was only 
iour years old, while with the exception of Issaquena, 
five years old, the others ranged from seven up, and 
with a single exception every one has a record faster 
than 2:24, Hiram Miller, 2:22|, and Billy, 2:23|, rnak- 
ino- their records that dav. Hiram Miller won the 
first heat in 2:23|; Lottie K, second; Hunter, third ; 
AVallace, fourth ; Mambrinette, fifth ; St. Bel, sixth, 
and Little Billy, Issaquena and Justina bringing up the 
rear. Little Billy won the next heat in 2:27^, and in 
the third heat St. Bel drove him out in 2:23|. Then 
St. Bel went on and beat his field gallantly in 2:25, 
2:25, 2:25:^, outlasting and outtrotting them all at the 
end. The next day it was raining when a gentleman 
and lady came to our stables to look over the horses. 
They were Mr. J. C. Sibley, of Franklin, Pa., and 
Mrs. Sibley, and having been in California the conver- 
sation turned on Electioneer. In speaking of his sons 
I said : " I think St. Bel will make a great stock horse," 
and referred to his exceptionally good action. When 
my visitors left I had no idea that they thought of buy- 
ing St. Bel, but shortly after the purchase was made, 
and Mr. Sibley secured him for $10,000 — perhaps the 
best bargain that ever went from the Palo Alto 
stables. 

From Cleveland we went to Albany, where St. Bel 
had a walk-over, and then made our way southwest 
again for the great St. Louis Fair, where our stable 
had important engagements. St. Bel started, October 



130 TKAiNiNii riiK rKtvrriNi; uoksk. 

r)th, in the i*:l*.") class, a^'ainst Astral, Alert, Consul and 
other seasoned campaigners. Astral and Alert were 
the favorites, and tiie former \von the lii'st heat in 
2:22i. In the second heat Astral and Almont led into 
tlie stretch, but 8t. r>el finished strong on the winner's 
wheel in !2::24-, Almont getting the heat ; and the third 
heat 8t. l>el beat Alert home in 'J:i?'>. T drove for the 
next head and led to the turn into the stivteh where 
St. Bel nuule a wild break antl lost a great deal of 
gi'onnd, but he went fast after he got his feet again, 
linishing second to Astral in 'J;2*2^, and the big maro 
just beat him ou{ in a driving tinish in the last heat 
in 2:2a. 

8t. T>el is a handsouu^ black horse, a trille under the 
medium size, but verv (.'ompact, stoutly muscled and 
highly tinished. He is one of the purest gaited, and, 
jHM'haps, the uu>st perfectly bahuuHHl hoi'se that 1 ever 
sat behind, and, as for his speed, I can say that I tliiidc 
T have riilden behiutl him as fast as 1 ever rode in a 
sulky, lie wore ten-ounce shoes in front as a rult\ As 
1 have alri\uly uuMitioned, St. I'el could never do him- 
self full justice in his last campaign, lie deveU>ped a 
splint that stnison which made us cautious, and inter- 
fiM'inl with his training, and, besides, he sutfered all 
the season from the etl'ects of a coUl ct>ntracted in 
crossing the mountains. Though, for these reasons, 
he could not <\o himself full credit in the nuitter of 
speed alone, h.is gameness and resolution made it neces- 
sary for another lun'se to have a good deal more sj)eed 
than he had to beat him when the heats were split, 
lie is what I may call a rountl-gaited lu)rse: his gait 
is perfect for a race horse, true, rapid and direct, with- 



ST. UKlAs I'l KITV OK MOVKMENT. 131 

out the slightest friction. He seems to roll jiloiig 
without effort, right on top of his gait as if it were a 
Avheel, and when he increases his speed to its utmost 
limit there is no sprawling, spreading, or striking a 
certain position, but just a gi'atlual, smooth increase 
after the maniun-, as 1 have said of Elaine, of a wheel 
gathering speed from its own momentum, lie has a 
splendid head — both as to its beauty and as to the 
quality of brain— and this, in addition to his compact, 
muscular make-u|), his pure action and his great blood, 
should make St. Bel a successful sire. I shall expect 
to see him prove lik(5 Electioneer in power to get 
trotters out of thoroughbi-ed mares, or, indeed, out of 
almost any kind of a mare, while from choice se- 
lected mares his colts should bo sensational young 
trotters. 



132 TRAINING THE TEOTTING HOKSE. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE GREAT FOUR-YEAR-OLDS OF 1886 — MANZANITA AND 

PALO ALTO THE BREEDING, TRAINING AND HISTORY 

OF MANZANITA THE MEMORABLE THREE - YEAR - OLD 

BATTLES OF 1885 MANZANITA BEATS PATRON, SILVER- 
ONE, EAGLE BIRD AND GREENLANDER AT CHICAGO 

THE SMART MEN DISCOVER A " QUITTER " AND PAY FOR 

THE INFORMATION THE MEMORABLE RACE FOR THE 

GASCONADE STAKES AT THE ST. LOUIS FAIR PATRON 

WINS THROUGH BAD STARTING A GREAT STABLE IN 

1886. 

The main reliance of our stable in its successful 
campaign of 1886 was placed in the two great four- 
3^ear-olds Manzanita, full sister to Wiklflower, and 
Palo Alto, by Electioneer, out of the thoroughbred 
mare Dame AVinnie, by Planet. Manzanita was faster 
than Palo Alto as a four-year-old, and indeed the fact 
is that had she stood training to his age she would 
most certainh' have taken a record closer to 2:10 than 
2:12. There was no four-year-old of her year that 
could give Manzanita a race, and her easy defeat of 
Patron demonstrated that fact so conclusiveh'^ that our 
good Kentuckv friends could almost see it. Barring 
Patron, it is doubtful if any four-year-old outside of 
our stable could beat Palo Alto, so that we had the 
races for that age practically at our mere}''. But this 



MANZ ANITA AND PALO ALTO. 133 

condition of things was not without its disadvantages, 
for Manzanitii and Palo Alto were compelled to trot, if 
they trotted at all, against aged horses, and in consider- 
ing their campaign the reader will not forget that 
(except in stake races for four-3'ear-olds) they were 
compelled to concede years of age to their opponents; 
and whatever we may believe as to mere speed, age 
undoubtedly tells in a long and trying race. 

Taken on lier public performances alone, Manzanita 
must be adjudged one of the most remarkable trotting- 
mares that this fast age and the fast famih" fi'om which 
she sprung has ])roduced, but to fully ajipreciate her 
real worth one must know what the public does not 
know — must know the ailments and the mishaps, in 
spite of which she was the champion of her age ; and 
after all she has publicly accomplished under these 
handicaps her real capacity has never been shown to 
the world, for she broke down just at the height of 
her powers, and when to an absolute certainty she was 
on the eve of trotting to a record faster than any 
mare, with the single exception of Maud S. and Sunol, 
has ever made. This may not meet the approbation of 
some critics, who, knowing nothing whatever of the 
real facts concerning Manzanita's history, her speed or 
her capacity, and who may have seen her in one race 
or who may have never seen her at all, presume to 
judo;e of her adversely, basing their whole judgment 
on the cast-iron and preconceived opinion that nothing 
great could come from her " plebeian-bred dam," May- 
flower — that the blood of St. Clair must necessarily 
carry "softness" with it. However, as I trained and 
drove this great mare throughout her career, I will, I 



134 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE, 

trust, not be considered presumptuous in assuming that 
I have had a rather better chance to form a correct 
opinion of what class of trotter Manzanita reall}' was 
than the general public have had, and the estimate I 
have given above of her quality is a conservative one. 
If it errs at all it errs certainly not on the side of 
flattery. 

Mayflower, the dam of Manzanita, "encumbered 
with fore-shoes which weighed nearly two pounds each, 
and with rolls of shot almost as ponderous on each 
fore pastern, made a mile in 2:30^ " back in the days 
when that w^as " about the top-notch in California." 
Her first foal, by Electioneer, was Maybell, the dam of 
Maralia, 2:25| ; the second was the distinguished Wild- 
flower, whose history has already been given, and the 
third was Manzanita. She was foaled February 2, 
1882, and grew into a splendidly-made light bay mare, 
about 15 hands high, with a well-cut head, a long, 
nicely-shaped neck, heavy shoulders, lengthy barrel, 
with a strong though rather straight back and stout, 
muscular quarters ; and her " traveling-gear " was good 
from the ground up. 

Manzanita was broken in her yearhng form and 
showed great promise on the miniature track. If it 
was true that '' lot-trotters" never amount to anything, 
we should not have taken the trouble to train Man- 
zanita, but we did not pay any more attention to such 
" wise old saws " then than we do now. She kept on 
improving until I left for the East in 1883, but on my 
return the boys had a sorrowful stoiy to tell about the 
mare w^hose future we had all built hopes upon. They 
assured me that she " was no good," that she " could 



manzanita's misfortunes. 135 

not untrack herself," and, to cap the climax, they ])ro- 
nounced her "foundered." However, I did not give 
her up as wholly degenerate ; in four or five months 
there was no sign of "founder," and she could show 
me a quarter in 0:42 — or say, a 2:50 gait. In her year- 
ling form she attempted to come out of her box when 
the upper half-door was closed. She got her foreparts 
out all right, and then naturally raised herself, the 
door taking her across the back at the most sensitive 
spot — right over the kidneys. The result was that her 
hind parts were practically paralyzed, and the sprawl- 
ing and dragging-motion of these parts plainly pointed 
to severe injury across the loins and in the region of 
the kidneys. It took two months of assiduous treat- 
ment and care before she could jog well; and, indeed, 
I cannot say that she ever recovered from the injury, 
for, as will be seen further on, she was attacked more 
than once with this partial paralysis in her campaigns. 
After we had gotten her, seemingly, over this disaster, 
and she could trot along in about 2:40, another barrier 
loomed up across her path. She thre\v out a nasty 
curb, and I thought of giving her up for the year. But 
after looking over the material I had in training, I 
could not reconcile myself to the idea of turning the 
filly out — for, in spite of lier ill-luck and consequent 
backwardness, I liked her — and decided to endeavor to 
keep on training her and treat the curb at the same 
time. The double task was successfully acccomplished. 
I cured the curb with iodine — the application of which 
I will refer to at another place — and on the day that 
Sallie Benton lowered , the four-year-old record to 
2:17f I drove Manzanita to a two-vear-old trial of 2:25. 



136 TKAINING THE TROTTINa HORSE. 

She accompanied the stable East in her three-year- 
old form, and had walk-overs in her two first engage- 
ments — the Annual Nursery Stake and the Stallion 
Stake for three-year-olds. The stakes were worth 
$1,250 and $750 respectively, and we were ''in luck" 
in having no opposition, for the mare was far from 
right. Her old ailment, partial paralysis in the rear 
quarters, attacked her, and she grew worse before we 
left Albany, so much so that I hesitated about shipping 
her- to Chicago with the rest of the stable, fearing the 
risk. However, she went with the stable, and rounded 
to sufficiently to start at Chicago, September 25th, 
though she had not wholly recovered from her Albany 
sickness. 

The field was the best three-3^ear-old material of the 
year. Patron, Silverone, Eagle Bird and Greenlander 
are names tliat all trotting horsemen will remember as 
giants of the three-year-old class of that great three- 
year-old year 1885. George Fuller was behind Patron, 
Crit. Davis drove Greenlander, Maxwell took care of 
Silverone, and Eagle Bird had the advantage of Budd 
Doble's piloting. Before the first heat Eagle Bird was 
the favorite, Manzanita second choice, while the after- 
wards mighty Patron w^as the outsider in the betting. 
We scored nine times before we got the word from 
Charles M. Smith, the starter, and Patron at once 
rushed to the pole, and led to the home-stretch, wdiere 
Eagle Bird closed up, and I also sent Manzanita up to 
Patron s head. There was a short and sharp fight in 
the stretch, but Manzanita beat the Kentucky- bred 
youngsters at the finish, winning the heat in 2:23^, 
Patron beating Eagle Bird for second ])lace. In the 



patron's defeat. 137 

second heat Manzanita got away a little back, but re- 
gained the pole before they went a quarter, and com- 
ing on won without any great exertion in 2:2'S^ from 
Eagle Bird. The backers of Eagle Bird and Patron 
were now in trouble, and Manzanita sold a three-to-one 
favorite over the field. Tiie next was a warm heat, as 
a blanket would have covered Manzanita, Patron antl 
Eagle Bird from the start to tlie three-quarter pole, 
Avhere they were racing head and head. Half-way u]) 
the stretch I had Patron and Eagle Bird beaten, and 
begun to ease up a little, when Silverone unexpectedl}^ 
came with a great rush, carried Manzanita to a break, 
and won by about a length in 2:25f. Silverone, I 
rather think had the S])eed of the party tliat day, but 
had to go back to the one-eighth to score, which killed 
her chances. JSTow all the wise men of the turf talked 
of Manzanita, and were dead sure she was "a quitter" 
and "done for," and acting on the hasty conclusion 
dumped good money into " the box " against her. It 
would have been just as well invested in Lake Michi- 
gan, for in the last heat Manzanita made the pace so 
strong from the half that she had things her own way 
in the stretch, and won bj' two or three lengths in 
2:211 

The " talent," after losing hard in learning the simple 
lesson that it is a fool's act to jump at sudden conclu- 
sions, had a tiresome and disconsolate task in figuring 
out how it was tliat a sore three-year-old filly trotted 
two heats in 2:23^, quit in 2:25f, and then, after being 
" dead beat," " quitting," " setting down," and all that 
sort of thing, came back easily in 2:2-1:^ in the fourth 
heat. There is tliis peculiarity about men whose 



138 TRAINING THK TROTTING HORSE. 

chief sharpness consists in finding quitters. They first 
look at a colt's breeding and they find a strain tliat 
some old campaigner has sworn b}?" all the stable-oaths 
is "soft." They put it right down in their book that 
that colt not only loill quit but must quit. Then when 
he comes on the turf the}^, before they have ever seen 
him, solemnly impart the information to all their 
friends that that colt is a quitter. And it don't matter 
how he trots, win or lose, whether he is a game one or 
not, whether he is sick or well, whether he loses a heat 
by an accident, by a break, or is beaten by a speedier 
horse, these sharp turfites, having once said that a 
horse must he a quitter, consider themselves under a 
solemn obligation to carry that belief intact to their 
graves. And every time they back their theory and 
lose, they believe in it all the harder, like the Salvation 
Army men who declare that unless we keep on " believ- 
ing hard " we will lose our faith. Nothing will convince 
some talented observers of trotting-horses that they 
ever made a mistake about anything, and especially 
about " quitters " that they know nothing of. I have 
often, in remembering the criticisms passed on Smug- 
gler and Manzanita, thought, " What fools these mor- 
tals be." 

The close and logical observer will never jump at a 
conclusion about the qualities of a race-horse. You 
must see him not in one race, but in several races, and 
3^ou must know about his condition in his races before 
you can determine that a horse is faint-hearted. The 
most resolute horse in the world will not trot resolutely 
if he be ailing, and he cannot trot resolutely if his 
phvsical machinery be out of repair. The gamest 



MAXZANITA AT ST. LOUIS. 139 

horse will " stop " if short of work, and if you do not 
know that he has had sufficient work, that he is not 
sore or sick, how are you going to know whether he 
" stops " from physical causes, or from true quitting^ 
which is a mental quality — cowardice, faint-hearted- 
ness ? 

Manzanita's next race was at the St. Louis Fair of 
1886 in the Gasconade Stake, and that race will long- 
be remembered as a battle royal between the best field 
of three-year-olds that has perhaps ever faced a starter. 
The field against Manzanita was composed of Patron, 
driven by Fuller; Silverone, driven by Maxwell; Eagle 
Bird, with Simmons in the sulky; lona, driven by 
Bowerman, and the two Princeps stallions Gran by 
and Greenlander — all the best three-year-olds of the 
year, in fact. There were 100,000 people on the Fair 
Grounds that day. Eagle Bird got away in front, with 
Manzanita second, and she disposed of Mr. Simmons' 
roan stallion at the half. Patron made a strong fight 
in the stretch, but my mare carried me home in front 
with something to spare in 2:23^. In the next heat it 
was Silverone that challenged Manzanita in the stretch, 
and she came so fast that the Blue Grass cheers began 
to swell, but they died away with true Kentucky loyalty 
when Manzanita beat the great daughter of Alc3^one 
out in the final tussle in 2:21^. When Manzanita came 
out for this heat she was so sore that she could scarcel}'' 
put one foot on the ground, but she warmed out of it 
in jogging, Mr. H. D. McKinney — better known as 
"Mambrino" McKinnev — the starter, was thinking so 
much of the Mambrino blood in Patron that in start- 
ing the third heat he forgot the very first of a starter's 



140 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

duties — to protect the pole-horse. Patron was sent 
away in front, lapped by Silverone and Eagle Bird, 
with Manzanita away back and shut in at the pole. 
The start was so unfair that even the local reporters 
noticed it. and the turf papers mentioned the fact in 
their reports. In trying to rush the mare through to 
the position that the starter deprived her of I forced 
her to a break, and being shut off, eased her up and 
did not drive for the heat, which Patron won from 
Eagle Bird in 2:23^. The public, seeing that Man- 
zanita was not beaten on her merits, still kept her 
favorite in the betting. Patron was now the pole- 
horse, and he was very carefully protected, getting 
away in front, but I brought Manzanita up from 
the rear and carried liim to a break before the half 
was reached, and led to the three-quarters, with 
Silverone and Patron close up. We were all driv- 
ino- for all we were worth in the home-stretch, but 
Patron left his feet, the two mares fighting it out to 
the finish, with Silverone just beating Manzanita in 
2:241^. Both Silverone and Manzanita broke as the 
word was given in the fifth heat, and I at once saw 
that it was best to lay up that heat, wherein Silverone 
went on ami drove Patron out in 2:24|. The starter 
again " took care " of Manzanita in the sixth heat, and 
gave a start that can only be ex])lained on the theory 
that "he was so much interested in the great race that 
he failed to watch the field closely. Even yet so plain 
was it that Manzanita with a fair start could win, that 
she sold in the pools for $25 to $20 over the entire 
field; but in this last heat, though it was only the first 
score, and Manzanita ran all the way up the score, the 



AT HOME AGAIN, 141 

starter gave the word, sending her away on what the 
Chicago Horseman properly called " a wretched break." 
She was a good distance out before she settled, and of 
course her last chance was killed by the disgracefully 
bad start. Patron won in 2:26|. Patron was a good 
horse, and a courageous horse, but it was not Patron 
that beat Manzanita that day. Patron met Manzanita 
only twice under fair conditions and she beat him both 
times, and had she been given an even start she would 
have beaten him that day, just as decisively as she did 
a year later. And in saying this I am not detracting 
from the merits of Patron in the least. I always 
admired him as a true, good horse, and next to Man- 
zanita one of the best of the youngsters of 1885 and 
1886. 

At the close of the St. Louis Fair we shipped our 
stable across the mountains to seek refreshment in the 
winter-summer of their home fields, and to prepare 
under California's genial skies to make greater conquests 
in 1886. And when we were ready to start East 
again we had the most formidable stable of young trot- 
ters that ever crossed the Rockies. There were in it 
Manzanita and Palo Alto, then just about invincible in 
their class; Hinda Rose, Avho shared with Patron tlie 
honor of the fastest three-year-old record ; the gootl 
four-year-old St. Bel, and his two-year old brother 
Chimes ; the promising three-year-old Sphinx, and the 
two-year-old Suisun, one of the best youngsters we 
have trained. These Avere all by Electioneer, and 
"though stars of differing magnitude," they were 
all stars in their classes. It was natural that we 
should have expected a very successful campaign with 



142 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

this material, and the best evidence of the reahza- 
tion of our expectations was that furnished by the 
National Association of Trotting Horse Breeders of 
deciding to in future bar California colts from their 
stakes. 



MANZANITA AS A FOUR-YEAR-OLD. 143 



CHAPTEH XL 

MANZANITA AS A FOUR - YEAR - OLD A RACE LOST BY 

LAYING UP HEATS SHE STARTS AGAINST A GREAT 

FIELD OF AGED HORSES AT CLEVELAND — LOWERS THE 

FOUR - YEAR - OLD RECORD TO 2:16;^ BEATS EAGLE 

BIRD EASILY AT MAYSVILLE DEFEATS GREENLANDER 

AT LEXINGTON THE FOUR - YEAR- OLD RECORD LOW- 
ERED TO 2:16 WINNING FROM GREENLANDER AND 

HAVERSTICK IN A JOG THE GLORIOUS VICTORY AT THE 

ST. LOUIS FAIR OVER PATRON THE DEFEAT OF 1885 

WIPED OUT, AND MANZANITA's SUPERIORITY AS THE 

GREATEST OF FOUR - YEAR - OLDS ESTABLISHED HER 

RETIREMENT HER GREAT QUALITIES AS A RACE- 
MARE. 

Manzanita's first start in her memorable campaign 
as a four-year-old, was against a field of aged horses 
in the 2:24 class at East Saginaw, Michigan. As else- 
where related, on my return from New York, where a 
consignment of our horses went for sale, I found 
the trotting stable sick at Louisville, and, after the 
horses rounded to and were well over the eifects of the 
long journey, we went to Kalamazoo. From there we 
shipped to East Saginaw to take a hand in the meeting 
at that place in July. Palo Alto began the campaign 
for the stable by beating Wilton, Lucy Fry and a good 
field, in fast time, on the 15th and 16th, and Man- 
zanita's race was set for the ITth. The story can be 



14-i TKAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

€asily told, I laid Manzanita up in the first two heats 
which Belle Hamlin won in 2:21f and 2:22^. This left 
me in sixth place for the third heat and I drove for it. 
From the first turn the two mares had it nip and tuck ; 
it was head and head up the stretch, and Belle just 
won in 2:1 8 J. Manzanita was separatel}" timed in 
2:18, and she went a long mile, trotting around the 
field in the first quarter. I laid up the first two heats 
according to an agreement which certain other parties 
failetl to respect, and, undoubtedly, the breach of faith 
gave Belle Hamlin the race. The two mares far 
outclassed the rest of the field. Had both gone for it 
from the start. Belle Hamlin, with her advantage of 
three years in age — she then being seven — would have 
made a great race with Manzanita. From East Sagi- 
naw the scene shifted tQ the Grand Circuit tracks, and, 
in the 2:23 class, at Cleveland, July 2Sth, the two 
mares met again, and again the diplomatic owner of 
Belle Hamlin got the mone}^ Besides the mares there 
were in the field such hardened campaigners as Long- 
fellow Whip, Lowland Girl, Spofford, Charles Hilton 
and Kitefoot — rather formidable company for a four- 
year-old filly to fight, especially in combination. In 
scoring for the first heat Hilton upset Hickok out, 
and ran away, and he, of course, was drawn. "When 
the word was given Belle Hamlin and Lowland 
Girl had the best of it, and went away at a hot 
pace, going to the quarter in 0:34, and the half 
in 1:08. I trailed about a length behind Lowland 
Girl, and my mare was going easy enough to satisf}" 
me that Belle Hamlin would have to go another half 
in 1:08 or I should have a word to sav about the finish. 



THE BELLE HAMLIN RACE. l-io 

I^ow Lowland Girl gave it up, but Belle kept up the 
clip fast and hot, and at the three-quarters, in l:-l-2f, 
we were lapped. In the stretch I called on Manzanita, 
and after trotting head-and-head for nearly a furlong 
with Belle Hamlin, the latter "cracked," and Man- 
zanita won in 2:16^, lowering the four-year-old record 
by one and one-half seconds and trotting the last quar- 
ter in thirty-three and one half seconds — a' 2:14 gait. 
The next heat Belle Hamlin was laid up, and Lowland 
Girl and Longfellow Whip undertook to entertain me 
during the journey, my mare winning in 2:19^. Man- 
zanita broke at the first turn in the next heat, and I 
laid her up. Belle Hamlin winning from Spofford in 
2:1 S|^. A number of the drivers now began getting in 
fine work on the score, the judges failing to show 
ability to control them ; and finally Colonel Edwards 
let us go, with Belle Hamlin well in the lead and Man- 
zanita away back of the field. I again saw it useless 
to move for the heat, and Belle was never headed, win- 
ning in 2:19. The race was then postponed until the 
next day. The most shameful scoring was permitted 
b}" the judges in the deciding heat, and when they were 
finally sent off at the t wet) f (/-fourth score Belle Hamlin 
was in front, and none of us could ever catch her. She 
won in 2:1 S|^. The Sjrh'it correspondent, in comment- 
ing upon thisheat, said : " Manzanita never had a fair 
show to get at her (Belle Hamlin), but it would have 
been in vain, anywa}'. When she has a couple more 
years on her head she can, if right, give Belle Hamlin 
or any other in her class a red-hot race." 
. These two races against aged horses convinced me 
that we had a gem of the first water in Manzanita, 



146 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

especially as she had little fast work in her prepara- 
tion. When I get a four-3'ear-olcl that can go in the 
old and tried company she did, Avhere every heat is 
better than 2:20, I am satisfied, for it has been one en- 
deavor of my life to be a reasonable man. 

"We left the Grand Circuit line for the South, the 
colts having engagements in Kentucky, and Manza- 
nita's next race was in a four-year-old stake at Mays- 
ville, August 26th, where her only competitor was 
Eagle Bird, who could not give her the semblance of a 
race. I gave her three easy miles in 2:25^, 2:25^, 2:22. 
Her next race was one of the same kind, in that she 
had nothing near her own class against her. This was 
at the Lexington Fair, September 8d, in the Association 
Stake for four-jxar-olds, and Greenlander was the 
only competitor that faced Manzanita. I jogged the 
mare the first two heats in 2:22 and 2:22^, and then 
distance was waived, and I drove her the mile, without 
a skip, a falter or a waver, in 2:16, lowering her own 
record by a quarter of a second and making a four- 
year-old mark that stands unbeaten to this da}^ and 
one that has never been equaled or even approached 
in a race. This race was followed by a walk-over at 
Albany, Septembei^21st, at the meeting of the National 
Association of Trotting-Horse Breeders. As Palo Alto, 
St. Bel, Sphinx and Chimes also had walk-overs at this 
meeting, our Eastern friends practically conceded that 
they could not compete with our colts by deciding to- 
bar them from their stakes in future. 

From Albany we turned southAvard and westward 
again to trot at the Lexington breeders' meeting, and 
at the " Great St. Louis Fair." Manzanita easily beat 



PATRON AND MANZANITA. 147 

August Haverstick and Greenlander in a four-year-old 
race at Lexington in slow time — for her. We started 
Hinda Kose against Patron, and the latter won com- 
fortably enough in 2:2(H, 2:21^, and 2:2-l-i, Hinda Kose 
winning the lirst heat in 2:21^. In their three-year-old 
form the two duels of Patron and Manzanita had been 
the great features of the colt-racing of 1885, and in a 
manner honors were easy, each once defeaiing the 
other. All this made the prospective meeting between 
them at St. Louis, to settle the question of supremacy 
and demonstrate which was the greater four-year-old, 
one of intense interest. Patron's fine form at Lexino-- 
ton was encouraging, and our Kentucky friends were 
impatient to see the apple of their eye make the Palo 
Alto mare " set down," as they would have it, at St. 
Louis, 

So, when Patron and Manzanita met on October 2d, 
it was the event of the day. It is said that there were 
many more than one hundred thousand people on the 
ground that day, and I never remember to have seen 
so dense and interested a crowd as was packed on all 
sides when we scored for the word. The night before, 
and the day of the race, the Patron party were fairly 
bubbling over with confidence. My mare had im- 
proved steadily with every race, and, although I did 
not shout it on the grand stand, I felt sure that she 
was better that day than she had ever been before. 
My friend, George Fuller, the driver of Patron, was all 
confidence, and kindly informed me in advance that 
" Patron was going to make Manzanita set down," and 
that he was backing his horse well. I told him that my 
mare was right, and that neither Patron nor any other 



148 TEAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

four-year-old could make her •'stop." Asa friend I 
advised Fuller in all sincerity and candor not to back 
his horse for very much, and I further expressed my 
belief that he and indeed all the Patron people over- 
rated their colt and under-rated the mare. That 
shrewd horseman, Colonel John W. Conle}^ was one of 
those who backed Manzanita. When talking with a 
party, an enthusiastic Patron man told him that 
Patron had "gone a half in 1:08." Conley quickly re- 
joined: "But Manzanita went two halves in 1:08 the 
other day." Colonel Conley came to me for my opinion 
that dav, and told me that Fuller assured him that he 
would certainly "make Manzanita stop." I told the 
Colonel that if Patron beat Manzanita that day he 
would see the greatest four-year-old race that was ever 
seen on earth. The Colonel stuck to the mare with 
confidence and pluck, while all the gentlemen who 
had discovered her "soft spot" a year before, with 
customary fatuity, bet their money that she would 
" stop." The betting was even before the first heat, 
with Eagle Bird, who was of no consequence in the 
race, almost unbacked at any price. I mention these 
details of betting and of opinion for the reason that it 
was said after the race that Patron was not right. 
!Now if he was not himself w-hy did his driver and his 
friends bet their money with such freedom and con- 
fidence? Surely Fuller, his trainer and driver, knew 
whether he was right or not. He was a good horse 
a little while previous at Lexington, and I have not 
any doubt that he was as good a horse that day as 
ever he was up to that time. It took a good four-year- 
-old to trot the race he did, and the simple explanation. 



TUEF TALK. 140 

of it all is that he met his master, and his friends 
sought quite unsuccessfully to find an excuse for a 
performance that needed mme. 

As to the race, Patron had the pole and Eagle Bird 
the outside, with Manzanita between them. Mr. 
McKinney, the starter, had trouble in getting us away, 
and warned me to keep Manzanita well back, which 
would have been easier to do if the otliers could score 
with her. Finally, after about a dozen scores, the 
starter succeeded in getting the field of three off fairly 
well, and Fuller at once started out " to make some- 
thing crack." I laid Manzanita right at Patron's 
shoukler, and, when he passed the quarter in 0:34, I 
was enjoying a comfortable ride. Now he made the 
pace hotter, but at the half, in 1:0 7|^, Manzanita was 
huo-ffino: him still closer, and I had not made a move 
behind her yet. I was not very anxious when we 
passed the three-quarters, locked head and head in 
1:41|^, for the mare was going something within herself 
and Patron was out to the last link and straining hard. 
The pace was hot and fast, but the mare never flinched. 
Turning into the stretch I said jocosely to Fuller, "Hit 
him on the back." Fuller looked around with an 
expression I shall not forget, and shouted, " I'll beat 
you yet," whereat I answered, " Well, let us go along 
a little this heat," for I did not realize how fast we had 
trotted it so far. Manzanita abated not. in her speed 
in the stretch, but maintained the killing pace with 
absolute evenness, and, though Patron made a game 
struggle, he was not the filly's match, and broke just 
the wrong side of the wire, Manzanita winning in 
2;lTf. The filly cooled out to please me, did not. 



150 TKAINING THE TROTTING HOKSK. 

" blow " the least, and I considered that race as good 
as won. I found in the previous heat that the footing 
was best just about one position, or sulky-width, from 
the pole, and as soon as the word was given in the 
second heat I took that ground. I did not drive the 
mare any faster than was necessary, allowing Patron 
to keep close company, and won it in hand by half a 
length in 2:1 9f. Fuller now saw he was beaten, but I 
afterward heard that the owners of Patron gave him 
"•rent encouragement in the remark : " You have 
alu ays said you can make her stop, and we believe you 
can." The heat had been an easy one, and the mare 
showed not tlie faintest shadow of distress, but Fuller 
clung to the forlorn hope founded in the belief that 
Manzanita was a quitter, and so, in scoring for the 
tliird heat, he was full of "snap," and evidently 
intended to try to " make her set down " by hard scor- 
ing. We scored ten or eleven times very fast, but the 
Avear and tear of this business was not telling on the 
horse it was intended for. Finally we went away with 
Fuller attempting to find that " soft spot " that was to 
help him out. Tie found it — but in the wrong place. 
At the word 1 again took the position I wanted and 
led Patron a merrier dance than he really enjoyed. We 
went down the back-stretch at a red-hot clip, with 
Patron undei' a hard di'ive and the mare gradually but 
surely wearing liim down. The pace made his head 
swim, and just after we ])assed the half in 1:08^ he 
gave it up in a tired, heart-broken break. He was an 
utterly beaten horse, and Manzanita came home alone 
in 2:20, far in front of Eagle Bird, Avho passed Patron 
after his collapse. The victory was brilliant, but the 



PATRON AGAIN DEFEATED. 151 

race was a very easy one for Manzanita, and the work 
so helped her that she was tit the next (hiy for the 
effort of her life. She cleai'ly denionstfated her 
superiority over Patron, which was qnestioned after 
her race against him the year previous. AVe have not 
yet seen the four-year-old that could have beaten Man- 
zanita tliat day. In the form she was when she ])layed 
with Patron, she could out-trot and out-stay any four- 
vear-old that ever lived. She had so much speed, and 
could rate so well from wire to wire that nothing of her 
age could have lived with her for a mile, and certainly 
no other horse could have even made as good an 
attempt, vain though it was, as did Patron. 

As to Patron I may say here that I did not wholly 
like his gait. His stroke forward was quick, but some- 
what spasmodic and peculiar. But he was a horse of 
great speed, determined and level-headed, and all in 
all was one of the greatest young horses that has yet 
campaigned. His defeats in his three and four-year-old 
form, by Manzanita, were nothing to his discredit. He 
had a superior, and it was no disgrace to lower his 
colors to the champion of his age. He was not first, 
but he was next to first. It has always seemed to me 
that Patron's misfortune was that his trainer, his 
owners and his friends have over-rated him as a turf- 
horse, and have asked of him what was beyond his 
capacity. Their confidence in his ability to beat Man- 
zanita, at St. Louis, where she really had him at her 
mercy every yard of every heat, and in later times 
their attempting to beat Atlantic one day and " the 
demon," Clingstone, the next, and then asking hhn to 
canijiaign against so great a horse as Prince Wilkes, 



152 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

seems to me evidence of the lack of judgment to ^Yllich 
I refer. A good horse on the turf, and grandly bred, 
he will be sure to gain further honor as a sire of 
trotters. 

I have referred to what has often seemed to me one 
of George Fuller's occasional errors as a trainer — over- 
confidence — and it is not fair that I should not tell the 
rest of my opinion of him. To put it short I know 
George Fuller to be not only an able and very superior 
trainer, and a great driver, but, as a man, I have found 
him upright, honorable and manly — one whose word 
is as good as his bond, and for no driver have I more 
esteem, and in none have I greater confidence. 

The victoiy at St. Louis was Manzanita's last race — 
a fitting close to a very brilliant career. We trained 
her the following year with the intention of driving 
her ao-ainst St. Julien's California record, 2:1 2|. She 
took the preparation very well, and all was ready for 
the attempt at Los Angeles that fall. But I gave her 
a last trial antl it proved one trial too much. I (h-ove 
her a quarter in 0:3(J^, and she shortly after broke 
down in a pastern suddenly and beyond repair. I have 
not the least doubt that not only would the 2:1 2i^ of 
St. Julieh been beaten, but that she would most cer- 
tainly have taken a record of from 2:10 to 2:11^. This 
is no wild estimate, without foundation, but a con- 
servative and safe conclusion based on what she 
actually did in her work. 

Iler retirement at the early age of five was unfortu- 
nate, in so far as her own record goes, for had she 
trained on to the age when the average horse is in his 
])rime Manzanita would have surprised all but those 



manzanita's retirement. 153^ 

who knew her best. She improved with age, and was 
of the kind that would ^o on improving. She was a 
good feeder; had pure action, carrying ten-ounce shoes 
forward; had nerve-force enough without being fret- 
ful or irritable ; improved under the wear-and-tear of a 
campaign ; had a good, level head ; was a good actor 
under all circumstances, and would go to her utmost 
limit on her courage. She had, in short, all the essen- 
tial qualities of a great race-mare. As to her game- 
ness, all I have to say is that I knew her through and 
through, and when she was fit and well she was game 
enough to suit me, and I am not suited very easily in 
that regard. I do not know of any mare I would 
sooner trust for a brood-mare than Manzanita, and 
witli life and a fair chance in the stud she will be 
pretty sure to produce something that will do credit ta 
so great a dam. She started eleven times, was victo- 
rious eight times, and two of lier defeats were by an 
aged horse. She had not the cheap honor of being the 
best racer of her age in a bad 3'ear. As a three-year- 
old she met giants — met tlie best fields of three-year- 
olds that had ever come out in one year, and ca])tured 
more than her share of honors; and she did not stop 
there, but came out as a four-year-old and demon- 
strated in the most marked degree her unquestionable 
superiority over the same champions with whicli she 
battled as a three-3'ear-old, and she lowered the four- 
3'ear-old record to a point which none have surpassed. 
That is glory enough to retire upon and laurels briglit 
enough to remain forever fresh and green in the annals 
of the trotting-turf. 



154 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 



CHAPTEE XII. 

PALO ALTO, THE SON OF THE THOROUGHBRED MARE, DAME 

WINNIE HIS EARLY PROMISE THE NAME OF " PALO 

alto" ENTRUSTED TO HIM TO UPHOLD ALMOST A 

CLEAJSr SWEEP IN HIS CLASS IN 1886 BEATING AGED 

CAMPAIGNERS IN LONG RACES ONLY ONE DEFEAT 

AND EIGHT VICTORIES NARROW ESCAPE FROM DEATH 

BY FIRE — THE BRILLIANT CAMPAIGN OF 1889 

INVINCIBLE AND UNBEATEN RECORD, 2:1 2^. 

The second of our great four-year-olds in the 1886 
campaign was the now famous Palo Alto, whose 
record of 2:12J was one of the sensations of last 
season. Palo Alto is further noted as being the only 
horse out of a strictly thoroughbred mare that has 
ever beaten 2:20 ; and his performance demonstrates 
that it is quite possible to unite the blood of a positive 
and potent trotting sire with that of a good repre- 
sentative of the running race-horse, and get the action 
of the trotter combined with the finish and quality of 
the thoroughbred. 

Palo Alto was foaled February 15, 1882, and was 
got by Electioneer out of the thoroughbred mare 
Dame Winnie (the only thoroughbred mare that ever 
produced three trotters to beat 2:30, and one to beat 
2:20), by Planet, next dam by imported Glencoe, and 
she out of a daughter of imported Margrave, etc. We 




o 



H 


^ 


U 


at 


< 


Q 




ai 


O 


O 


yJ\ 


td 


< 


ai 


CLh 





''THE T)AMK WINNIE Col.T.'" 155 

began working " the Dame Winnie colt " as the others 
were worked, in his yearhng form, and he trotted from 
the start. At two years okl he came directly under 
my charge, and his improvement was marvellous. 
Excejiting Sunol we never had a two-year-old so 
]H'omising as Palo Alto, and for those who do not 
believe that those that trot young train as a rule, it 
will be in order to note that these two most precocious 
youngsters have the fastest records to the credit of 
Electioneer. lie could trot a quarter in 0:33 as a two- 
year-old, and he showed us at that age a full mile in 
2;23f. After that he was named Palo Alto, for then 
Governer Stanford thought him worthy to bear the 
name of the farm. He was always a favorite with 
the Governor, owing to his high form and his breed- 
ing, but he would not confer the name Palo Alto upon 
him until he showed himself worthy of it. Ilis two- 
year-old trial met the requirement. 

In his three-year-old form Palo Alto was still a 
great colt, but not as good, relatively, as in his two- 
year-old form, and until the past season (1889) he has 
never seemed to me to come up to the high promise of 
the time when he was enthusiastically named Palo 
Alto. The spring that he was four years old he was a 
very sick horse, and though his cam|)aign of that year 
was splendidly successful, he was not the horse he 
would have been had he suffered no set-backs. That 
season, too, he developed a nasty splint, which at times 
troubled him quite seriously, lie was also lame in the 
hip that spring, and, on Fuller's advice, I consulted the 
noted veterinarian. Dr. Sheppard, who located the 
trouble and successfully prescribed treatment. 



156 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE, 

Palo Alto opened our campaign of 1886 auspiciously 
at Kalamazoo, and he also rounded it up victoriously 
at St. Louis. His first start at tlie former place was on 
June 29th, in the 3:00 class, against Victor, b}^ Hermes, 
and four or five others. Palo Alto won very easily in 
2:32|, 2:33^, 2:33, outclassing his field entirely. July 
1st we started him in the 2:40 class against a bet- 
ter field, comprising among others Col. Bowers and 
the good mare Anniversary. We won the first two 
heats comfortably in 2:30^ and 2:30|. I was aware 
that the Grand Circuit was ahead, where the colt 
would have to go against aged horses, and I wanted to 
win without putting him out of the 2:30 class. In the 
third heat A'Universary crowded me so hard that I 
slowed up to avoid beating 2:30, and the public jumped 
to the conclusion that she "could win if she wanted 
to." In this heat Col. Bowers ran away, throwing out 
his driver, McLaughlin, and breaking several of his 
ribs. The judges called it no heat. In the next heat 
I went off at a hot pace, and trotted to the three-quar- 
ters in 1:15— a 2:20 gait — and then almost walked home 
in 2:29|, to show the public whether Anniversary 
" could win if she wanted to " or not. Our next battle- 
ground was the fast track at East Saginaw, where 
Palo Alto struck hot company in the 2:29 class. There 
was that good horse Wilton that in his next race made 
a record of 2:19^, and the fast Blue Bull mare Lucy 
Fry, 2:20f (whose dam was the well-known old gray 
campaigner, Kitty Bates, 2:19), besides Frank Middle- 
town and others. I had third position at the start, Lucy 
Fry being between me and the pole-horse, Wilton hav- 
ing the bad luck to draw the tenth and last place in 



PALO ALTO AND "WILTON. 157 

the field. It was not unusual for Palo Alto to blunder 
a little in the first heat of a race, and he lost his feet 
just as we got otf. Wilton shot to the front before we 
luid o-one far ; Lucy Fry and Palo Alto chased him up 
the stretch, but failed to catch him, Wilton winning 
in 2:24, with ni}^ colt second. Wilton and Palo Alto 
had it to themselves from the start in the second heat, 
and trotted like a team nearly the whole route. Mike 
Bowerman called on Wilton in his most energetic and 
aiii)roved style for a finisli ; I did not give Palo Alto 
any peace either, and he w^on the heat for us pretty 
handily in 2:22. It was now late, rapidly getting dark, 
and the judges postponed the race. The next morning 
was warm and the track was fast. The race was con- 
fined really to Wilton, Palo Alto and Lucy Fry, the 
rest having no chance with these. Lucy was quick at 
the start, and generally got away in front of us. but in 
both the third and last heats she w^as overtaken by 
Bowerman with his pony, and myself wath the four- 
year-old colt, before she got much more than round the 
first turn. In each heat Wilton made a great fight, 
and the two horses were so closely matched that the 
slightest mistake might have changed the result. In 
both heats I managed to beat him in the last hundred 
yards by very hard driving, the time being 2:22 and 
2:20^. This race showed that Palo Alto was a good 
race-horse, for Wilton had just as much and probably 
a shade more speed than Palo Alto then had, and he 
had, moreover, the advantage of two years in age. A 
four-year-old record of 2:20i in a fourth heat would 
have been highly creditable under much more favor- 
able circumstances. 



158 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

The close and exciting contest at East Saginaw 
showed Wilton and Palo Alto to be pretty well 
matched, and as both were entered in the $5,000 stake 
for the 2:30 class, to be trotted July 22d at Detroit, 
that event became decidedly interesting. Palo Alto 
had not had a sufficient preparation to meet the strain 
of a fighting-race like tliat at Saginaw without feeling 
its effects, and he was not as good a horse at Detroit 
as he was at Saginaw. He was a trifle muscle-sore, 
and consequently unsteady when the pinch came. 
There were onh'^ five starters in the race, the now 
famous Guy with Splan behind him being one, but 
about all the good he did that day was to make trouble 
at the start, and give exhibitions of various ways of 
going, exclusive of the trot. He has kept up his reputa- 
tion, thougli when he takes it in his head to trot he is 
"a whirlwind" sure enough. Palo Alto went into the 
air at the start in the first heat, and I just steadied 
him and made no move for the heat. "Wilton never 
was headed and won in fine style in 2:19f. The next 
heat I kept Wilton pretty close company all the way, 
but Palo Alto left his feet in the stretch and lost 
the heat in 2:19J. In the third heat Palo Alto made 
a still better fight, and had the best of it at the head 
of the stretch. He carried Wilton to a break, but just 
at the critical moment he broke also, by which time 
Wilton had recovered and come fast to the wire, 
■winning the third heat and the big stake in 2:20 flat. 
Palo Alto was beaten, but he was by no means dis- 
graced in this the only defeat he has ever met. Indeed 
this race is a brighter mark in his brilliant career than 
many of his easy victories, for the best test a race- 



CAMPAIGNING. 159 

horse can meet is to make a t^ood fight against odds, 
and struggle bravely and with undaunted courage 
throughout a losing battle. 

Palo Alto's next race was at the Cleveland Grand 
Circuit Meeting, in the 2:29 class, July 22d. The held 
was not nearly of the class that he was in at Detroit, 
and, though he lost the first heat to Mabel A. in 2:23^, 
he won the subsequent heats too easily to call for any 
lengthy remarks. Chpper and Mabel A. were the best 
of the lot, and they finished, alternately, second and 
third, Palo Alto winning in 2:23, 2:22^, 2:21^, improv- 
ing as the heats went on. 

At Covington, Kentucky, August 28th, he met a fast 
field in the 2:20 class, among them being old Deck 
Wright, Tom Rogers and C. F. Clay. I decided that my 
best chance for victory was in letting the rest do the 
fighting for awhile, and so I laid Palo Alto up in the 
first three heats. Tom Rogers won the first in 2:2<>^, 
and Deck Wright the second in 2:22^. As my time 
for action was at hand I trotted for a fair position 
only in the third heat, finishing third to Tom Rogers 
in 2:23^. Then I cut Palo Alto loose and won the 
race in 2:22|, 2:25|, 2:24i, Palo Alto again demon- 
strating that his forte was staying rather than 
" sprinting." 

At Cleveland, September 18th, he again met fast and 
thoroughly seasoned company in Ilarr}^ Roberts, the 
perennial Deck Wright, Alert and George W. Deck 
Wright won the first heat in 2:20^, and Harry Roberts 
the next in 2:20. Then I got Palo Alto settled for 
business and he won the third and fourth in 2:21, 2:21^. 
The fifth heat I lost to Deck Wright, a boy frighten- 



160 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

ing Palo Alto by running across the track. Darkness 
now stopped the contest, and it went over till the next 
Monday, with Palo Alto and Deck Wright having two 
heats each, and Harry Roberts one. The following 
Monday Palo Alto won the deciding heat and the 
race comfortably enough in 2:20^. Two days later he 
"walked over "for a stake at Albany, and then we 
headed for St. Louis. Here he was brought to the wire 
again in the 2:20 class, the field against him being 
Charley Hogan, 2:1S|; Albert France, 2:20^; Libby S., 
2:19^. and C. F. Clay, 2;18. 1 concluded before the 
race that some of these horses had a trifle too much 
speed for me, and that it would be better to let them 
work off a little of it between themselves, and reserve 
my effort until they came back a trifle toward my notch. 
C. F. Clay went off with a rush in the first heat, and 
Charley Hogan and Libby S. fought it out with him. 
Clay beating Hogan in 2:18. The same horses cut out 
the work in the next heat, but the mile in 2:18 took 
the fight out of C. F. Clay, and the finish was between 
Libby S. and Charley Hogan, Doble landing the latter 
winner in 2;20J. After we got by the half-mile post 
in the next heat I began to take a hand in the dispute 
with Palo Alto, and beat Libby S. home easily in 2:21. 
The fourth heat Libby S. and Palo Alto trotted neck 
and neck nearly the entire distance, and Palo Alto 
nearly lost it by a break in the stretch, but I caught 
him on time to snatch it out of the fire in 2:21^. In 
the next trip Horace Brown, the Buffalo driver, was 
put up liehind Libby S., aiid in some way he and Van 
Ness, driving Albert France, got into collision at the 
first turn, and in the general confusion Palo Alto became 



NINE STARTS EIGHT VICTORIES. Ifil 

■"rattled " and made a very bad break, not settling until 
he was back of the field. Van Ness got out of the 
tangle best, and went after Charley Hogan, with Palo 
Alto hard on his track. But there was too much 
ground to make up in the stretch, and Palo Alto broke 
in a muscle-tired fashion, Albert France winning in 
2:24^. My horse cooled out very well and he won the 
deciding heat without much trouble in 2:25. It was a 
trying race, and every horse was tired, making it all 
the more creditable for the four-year-old to stay and 
win in the end. 

This campaign showed him to be a true and 
game four-}- ear-old race-horse. Out of nine starts he 
scored eight victories. lie had, like all horses, his 
peculiarities. He generally had to trot a heat in com- 
pany before he was ready to go out for the mone}^ 
and in driving him you had to strike a ver}^ bappy 
medium. He required vigorous and constant driving, 
but there was a line beyond which it meant disaster to 
iro. He could not be driven with an over-check — he 
liked a side-check with an independent snaffle-bit. His 
gait is good and pure, carrN'ing ten-ounce shoes in 
front and five behind, and the usual protecting-boots 
all around. Notwithstanding that his dam is thor- 
oughbred, he is a good-headed horse, being certainly as 
steady as the average purely trotting-bred horse, and 
showing certainly no more disposition to leave his feet 
under hard pressure than fast trotters usually do. 

Palo Alto suffered in the fire of April, 1888, and had 
indeed a narrow escape from being burned to death. 
But few of the scars have lasted, his most conspicuous 
loss being the demoralization of his tail (as our faitliful 



162 TRAINING THE TKOTTING HOESE. 

picture shows), which, never very full, is now light 
enough to suggest " banging." Indeed, he would pass 
for a very fair-looking thoroughbred. 

Trouble developed in 1888 in one of his fore feet 
or pasterns — in fact, it was a little difficult to exactly 
locate the ailment, and he had to be thrown out of 
training. The past spring I began, with many mis- 
givings — "doubting, hoping, fearing" — to work him 
again. Pie did not go wholly sound, and indeed was 
lame in some of his best performances ; but, as the 
brief summary below of what he did in 1889 shows, he 
demonstrated himself about as great a trotting-stallion 
as has yet appeared on the turf, taking a record of 
2:12^, the fastest mile ever trotted by a stallion, with 
the single exception of the wonderful colt AxtelL 
After standing unequaled for five years, it is some- 
what strange that the stallion record should be wiped 
out in a single season, both by a three-3'^ear-old colt 
and a stallion whose dam Avas thoroughbred. But it is 
the unexpected that always happens. 

For a long time the trouble in Palo Alto's foot 
puzzled me. Though I never gave up hope entirely 
that he would train again, the prospect was not cheer- 
ing. I thought the trouble was in the ankle, but kept 
watching and finally found that the fore foot had 
spread too far. I then shod him with a bar shoe, and 
had clips put on the outside of the shoe to prevent 
spreading, and the horse commenced to improve at 
once, though he showed soreness several times last 
summer. 

Palo Alto's first start in 1889 was at Napa, August 
13th, where, in the 2:20 class, he beat Bay Kose, Jim. 



PALO ALTO IN 1889. 163 

L. and Victor in straight heats in 2:21^, 2:20, 2:18. At 
Petaluma, August 28th, he again won the 2:20 class 
race, his time being 2:20^, 2:21^, 2:23^, Bay Kose 
winning the second heat in 2:20^. September 2d, at 
Oakhmd, he beat the same field in straight heats in 
2:22i, 2:20, 2:11)^. At the same track on the 7th, 
he defeated Lilly Stanley in 2:1 8^, 2:1 9^, 2:20i At 
Stockton, Palo Alto trotted the most brilliant race 
trotted by any horse in 1889. He had Direct and Bay 
Rose to beat, and he did it in 2:10^, 2:171, 2:13|, the 
last being the fastest third heat ever trotted by a 
stallion. At the Bay District track, November 2d, he 
trotted against time in 2:15. On November 9th he 
trotted this track in 2:12|^, with a losing break at the 
finish. Then we took him to Napa, Stamboul going 
also, and on November 16th both stallions made 
records of 2:12^. Palo Alto's feet hurt him and he 
broke in the last quarter, but settled in time to finish 
well. Rain prevented further attempts to break the 
stallion record which Axtell had set at 2:12, but had 
the weather remained fair it is not certain that there 
would not at the end of 1889 have been two stallions 
with records faster than Axtell. 

Palo Alto's campaign of 1889 needs no eulogy or 
elaboration. Only a bare statement of the recorded 
facts is necessary to show its brilliancy. 



16tt TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

SUDIE D. TAKES THE YEARLING HONORS TO KENTUCKY FOR 
A BRIEF SEASON NORLAINE, THE CHAMPION YEAR- 
LING — HER TRAINING SHE BREAKS SUDIE D.'s REC- 
ORD IN 2:31^ — NORVAL, 2:1 T|^, her sire — sallie 

BENTON, 2:17f, THE CHAMPION FOUR - YEAR - OLD OF 

HER DAY HELEN, 2:22f SPHINX, 2:23 BELL BOY, 

2:19^ CHIMES AND SUISUN OTHER STARS. 

From the day that Hinda Rose made her record of 
2:36^ in 1881 there was no yearling produced in 
America to threaten that record until the season of 
1887, and as long as it was not menaced we made no 
effort to improve it. But a surprise came from Ken- 
tucky in the year last mentioned, when the deeds of 
Sudie D. made her famous. This filly is by Sherman's 
Hambletonian, out of a daughter of American Cla}^, 
and must have shown great promise early in the sum- 
mer, for it was said that Bowerman Bros., of Lexing- 
ton, bought her in August for $1,300. After George 
Bowerman drove her a trial in 2:36, John S. Clark, of 
Kew Jersey, gave — so the papers said — $5,000 for her. 
He started her at Lexington, October 15th, and she 
went the mile in 2:35f. "When the news arrived that 
the Palo Alto yearling record had been eclipsed we 
at once set to work to bring the honor back. The 
time was short, and we had to pick a good one of 



NORLAINE. 165 

our youngsters and push development at high pres- 
sure. The most forward of our yearhngs was the 
filly Norlame, by Norval (present record, 2:17|^), out of 
Elaine, 2:20 — the fast mare by Messenger Duroc, out 
of Green Mountain Maid, Avhose history I have 
already given. She was a rather dull brown in color, 
a trifle pony-built in some respects, but with a long, 
low-set bod}^, short, sloping hip of the pacing forma- 
tion, and low at the Avither. Pier legs and feet were 
of the best quality, and she had a level head. Norlaine 
was not impressive in appearance until you saw her 
go. She was always fast from her first lesson on the 
miniature track, and I began working her in Aj^ril, 
but gave her only the easiest of work, as the intention 
was not to start her until she was two years old. But 
Sudie D.'s brilliant performance in October changed 
all this, and I then began training the filly in earnest, 
working her twice a day. In doing this, of course, I 
took chances of injuring her, and, indeed, of breaking 
her down. Had we began earlier she could have been 
given more work, and could have been developed to a 
higher point, with little or no risk; but we never allow 
such considerations to stand in the way when the 
supremacy of Palo Alto in colt records is at stake. 
The filly took her hard work with rehsh, and improved 
under it until November 12th, when we felt that she 
was equal to the task of plucking the fresh laurels 
from Sudie D.'s brow. The trial was made af the Bay 
District track, San Francisco, and she trotted the mile 
in 2:31^, a yearling record that has a good chance to 
last as long as Hinda Eose's. The time by quarters 
was 0:39, 0:36, 0:38, 0:38^. Now I wish to say that I 



166 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

made a mistake in driving this trial, and had m}' " fore- 
sight been as good as my hindsigiit" on that occasion 
the record would surely have been a trifle faster. She 
faltered in going away, and the time to the eighth was 
0:20. Then she again made a little mistake, but went 
to the quarter in 0:38|^. From this point on the Bay 
District track there is an up-grade, and without think- 
ing of this I began urging the tilly and sent her the 
second quarter in 0:36— a 2:24 gait, which is certainly 
a terrific pace for a yearling baby. My error was in 
beginning the drive too early ; had I gone easy to the 
three-eighth pole and come down the grade fast to 
the finish the time for the mile would have been 
faster. 

After making this marvelous mile the filly w«.s 
turned out until March. A few weeks before the fire 
she was taken up, and showed great improvement as 
soon as work was begun. She had a world of speed, 
and gave such promise that I expected her to take a 
record at two years old as fast as the record of her 
dam — 2:20. In the fire of April, 1888, the little queen 
was burned to death, and in her Palo Alto lost a star 
that would have ranked among its brightest. 

She had a right to be a great mare, for not only was 
her dam Elaine a great trotter, but so was her sire 
Norval. This horse was foaled in 1882, and therefore 
got Norlaine in his three-year old form, and she was 
the only foal he sired previous to 1888. He is by 
Electioneer, out of the gray mare Norma, 2:33|, by 
Alexander's Norman ; second dam by Todhunter's Sir 
Wallace, and next dam Eagletta, by the race-horse 
Grey Eagle. Besides Norval, Norma ])roduced Lucy 



SALLIE BENTON. • 167 

Cuyler, owned by Eobert Bonner, and she is credited 
with having gone a mile in 2:15^— privately. Norval 
was worked young and was one of our fastest colt- 
trotters. I have driven him quarters close to 0:33, 
and in his two-year-old form he was almost as fast as 
Palo Alto. But he went wrong in a leg, and we 
decided to give him a long rest. In the fall of 1888 he 
began to round to, and was then sold to Colonel Robert 
P. Pepper, of Frankfort, Kentucky. Good fortune fol- 
lowed him, and in Colonel Pepper's hands he trained on 
so well that last summer he took a record of 2:1 7^. 
He is one of the most magnificent sons of Electioneer 
in form, in quality, in action, and indeed in every par- 
ticular, and in him Colonel Pepper has a horse that I 
believe will prove one of the greatest sires in Kentucky. 
With a sire and dam whose average record is 2:18|, 
and both splendid individuals and richly bred, J^Torlaine 
had the right to be a trotter. 

I have already referred in several places to the 
famous gray mare, Sallie Benton, but have given no 
sketch of her, and, though it is a little out of the 
chronological order, we may without impropriety pay 
due tribute to her at this place. She is a gray mare 
of racy and good form, and was got by Gen. Benton, 
out of Sontag Mohawk, a daughter of Mohawk Chief. 
I worked her considerably in her two-year-old form, 
and as a three-year-old she, besides having a walk-over, 
won two good races, taking a record of 2:30. We 
worked her through the following winter, until "the 
death of Leland Stanford, Jr., when all work was 
stopped and she ran out nearly all summer. In Sep- 
tember, at Cleveland, Ohio, the Glenview mare Elvira 



lOS TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

trotted in 2:18^, beating Bonita's four-year-old record, 
and then we had the task before us of regaining the 
four-}' ear-old honors. I began preparing Sallie Ben- 
ton, Helen (by Gen. Benton) and Hinda Rose to go 
against Elvira's time. The trials were at the Bay 
District track, December 13, 1884. First I tried with 
Hinda Rose, and her time was 2:2()^. Then I drove 
Helen, and the best she did was 2:22|. The last string- 
left was Sallie Benton, and right nobly she answered 
the question that was asked of her. She made the 
mile in 2:17f, and this four-year-old record stood un- 
beaten until Manzanita's day. 

When going slow, say at a 2:30 gait, Sallie Benton 
seemed rather awkward and tumbling in her gait, but 
at high speed her action was pure and beautiful. 
She did not pull, and was very resolute in carrying her 
speed. In makiiig her 2:lTf record she made a break, 
and her great speed is shown by the fact that I drove 
her a quarter in 0:30^ as a five-year-old. In that year 
she developed trouble in a rear tendon, and though 
with our stable in the East, she gave way at Rochester 
and we had to throw her out of training. She is now 
a brood-mare at Palo Alto, and we have seen enough 
to warrant high expectations of her in the stud. 

Helen, the mare that trotted in 2:22|, is not as well 
known to fame as she should be. She was a bay mare 
by Gen. Benton, out of Alameda Maid, 2:27^, by Whip- 
ple's llambletonian. At Lexington, Kentucky, August 
31, 1883, she won the third heat of a race against 
Fugue in 2:30|. The next year, as stated, she trotted 
the Bay District track in 2:22f, and in her five-year- 
old form I worked her a mile in 2:19. At Chicago 



SPHINX. 



169 



that season we started her in the 2:30 class, against 
Harry C, Endymion, and ten others. In the fourth 
heat there was a coUision in which I was thrown out, 
and the mare ran away two miles, and was of course 
distanced. Her only other start was on a muddy 
track at St. Louis where she could do nothing in the 
going. She had a big swinging gait, was slow and 
awkward in getting away, and had a great deal of 
speed, but required plenty of education in races. 

In drawing our historical portion of this book to a 
close, I cannot refer to all the trotters I have trained 
at Palo Alto that are entitled to consideration, but 
there are two or three more that we cannot pass by 
without some measure of just remark. One of the most 
promment and most meritorious of the horses to which 
no special reference has yet been made is Sphinx, son 
of Electioneer, out of Sprite, by Alexander's Belmont, 
and next dam the famous AVaterwitch, by Pilot Jr. 
He was foaled in 1883, was worked considerably as a 
yearling, and went East as a two-year-old. He was 
twice beaten by Nutbreaker and beat that good two- 
year-old once. He took a two year-old record of 2:29^. 
At St. Louis, where he met Nutbreaker for the last 
time that year, he won the first heat, and I thought 
the second too, but both colts broke just at the finish, 
and the judges curiously gave the heat to Nutbreaker 
because Sphinx made the best break. The next year, 
in his three-year-old form, he started eight times, M'in- 
ning four times. August 25th, at Covington, Ken- 
tucky, he beat Geneva and Phythias in straight heats, 
and at the same place, a few days later, he beat Cas- 
talia in a four-heat race, taking a record of 2:24^ in the 



170 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

fourth heat. He was beaten by Bermuda, at Lexing- 
ton, September 1st. At Albany he walked over twice, 
and again met Bermuda and Nutbreaker in that great 
three-3'ear-old race, which it took six heats to decide, 
]S"utbreaker winning a heat and making two-dead heats 
with Bermuda, who then won. Sphinx was now a little 
stale. He was also defeated by Nutbreaker at St. 
Louis, and again by Wild Rake in fast time — 2:24|, 
2:24:^, 2:22f. The following year, in the hands of his 
present owners, Sutherland 6z Benjamin, East Saginaw, 
Michio;an, he made a four-vear-old record of 2:23. 
Sphinx was a good race-horse, and has the action, 
blood and individual force for a successful trotting 
sire. 

Among the best youngsters we have sold that were 
partially develo])ed at Palo Alto may be mentioned 
Bell Boy, Suisun and Chimes. It is my belief that 
each of these three horses would now have had records 
in the 2:20 hst, or very close to it, had they remained 
at Palo Alto ; whereas, as it is, only Bell Boy has done 
nobly, while Suisun and Chimes hang on the out- 
skirts of 2:30, though the former has repeatedly 
beaten that figure, and the latter showed speed enough 
to do so. 

Bell Boy, the brother of St, Bel, Ilinda Rose and 
Palo Alto Belle was broken and worked by me as a 
yearling, and, after trottmg a quarter in 0:38, he was 
sold to S. A. Brov.me, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, for 
$5,000. In Mr. Browne's hands, trained by Sam 
Caton, he made a two-year-old record of 2:26, Mr. 
Browne sold him for $35,000 to Seaman & Jefferson, 
and in the fall of 1888, Caton brought him to Call- 



BELL BOY, SUISUN AND CHIMES. 171 

fornia, and in a rainstorm gave him a three-3'ear-old 
record of 2:191. Later on he was sold by auction to 
Clark & Hopper, at Lexington, for $51,0(»<) — the 
highest price ever paid for a horse at public sale — and 
has since beeri burned to death. 

The filly Suisun was among the best of the young 
Electioneers I had tranied up to her time. She is bred 
to trot and stay, being out of Susie, 2:26|, by George 
M. Patchen Jr., 2:27, son of George M. Patchen, 2:23^, 
and her grandam was by Owen Dale, son of William- 
son's Belmont. We campaigned her in her two-year- 
old form — 1886 — and she won each of her two races, 
beating in the first Chastelard and Estelle, and in the 
second Ben Hur, Victor Wilkes and Georgette, trotting 
the third heat of her last race in 2:31^. At Cleveland, 
after she had gone a public trial in 2:28, we sold her to 
W. B. Fasig for J. B. Houston, of Kew York, for $5,000. 
Last spring Mr. Houston sold her for over |10,000, and 
"General" Turner campaigned her in the Circuit, but 
without o-ettins" her out of the class in which he began 
with her. 

Chimes (brother to Bell Boy; St. Bel, Hinda Kose 
and Palo Alto Belle) we sold to C. J. Hamlin, at the 
beginning of our campaign of 1886 at East Saginaw, 
for $12,000. That year he made a two-year-old record 
of 2:33|. I began working this colt when he was nine 
months old, and before he was fourteen months old he 
showed a quarter in thirty-five seconds. I regarded 
him as one of our most promising 3'oungsters. In his 
two-year-old form he worked three-quarters at a 2:2-1 
gait. This was at East Saginaw^, after Mr. Hamlin 
bought him. Had I kept him in my stable he would 



172 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

surely have had a two-year-okl record belo\Y 2:25. But. 
after he went into Mr. Hamlin's stable he went back, 
for when I saw him later at Cleveland he was not at 
himself. After this I was informed that Mr. Hamlin 
had toe-weights put on him. and if that be true I can 
readil}^ understand his fallinty away from his true form. 
"VVe wore a ten-ounce shoe on him, and he had no need 
of toe -weights. He has, I understand, grown very 
large, not being so compactly, strongly and closely 
built as his more distinguished brothers, and under his 
new training he has never been the horse he was be- 
fore he left Palo Alto. 

But the list of the good ones seems endless, and after 
I have written far more than I intended of a historical 
nature I find that a brilliant galaxy of trotters that I 
have trained and developed must be passed by without 
justice being done them. Ansel, 2:20; Azmoor, 2:21:|-; 
Carrie C, 2:24; Chfton Bell, 2:24; Maiden, 2:23; Ger- 
trude Russell, 2:23|^ : Rexford, 2:23, and many others, 
would afford good material for additional chapters, but 
we must hasten on to the chapters on training, and so 
will end our historical chapters with a strong finish — 
the history of the greatest trotter the world has yet 
seen, the peerless and unrivaled Sunol. 

" None but herself can be her parallel." 



SUNOL. 



173 



CHAPTER XIY. 

SUNOL, THE PHENOMENAL TROTTER OF THE NINETEENTH 

CENTURY — HER BREEDING AND HER FORM HER 

TEMPER AND NERVOUS ORGANIZATION HER FIRST 

LESSONS TRAINING ON TO GREATNESS DETAILS OF 

HOW SHE WAS WORKED WINS HER FIRST RACE 

LOWERING THE TWO-YEAR-OLD BECORD TO 2:20^ 

LOWERING IT AGAIN TO 2:18— THE WINTER OF 1888-9 

A LIST OF BRILLIANT PERFORMANCES — CHAMPION 

THREE-YEAR-OLD OF THE WORLD — 2:lO|^. 

The filly Sunol was foaled April 14, 1886. Her 
sire was Electioneer, and her dam is the chestnut mare 
Waxana, by Gen. Benton, and Waxana's dam was the 
mare Waxy, whose pedigree has been the subject of 
so much controversy. Waxy was always represented 
to be by Lexington, but until Sunol trotted in 2:18 at 
two years old no serious attempt was made to establish 
it. After Mr. Wallace, the compiler of the Trotting- 
Register, questioned it, Governor Stanford employed 
Mr. Levi S. Gould, of Boston, a gentleman of much ex- 
perience in tracing pedigrees, to investigate it. The 
controversy over this pedigree would fill many pages 
of this book, and of course I will not burden it 
with the dreary details, it being unnecessary to say 
more than that Mr. Gould reported, after a long and 
thorough investigation, that Waxy was a thorough- 



174 TRAINING THE TKOTTING HOKSE. 

bred daughter of Lexington, out of <a mare by Grey 
Eagle, and that she was a full sister to Annette, the 
dam of Ansel, 2:20. Whether this pedigree- is proven 
or not is a matter of opinion — Governor Stanford and 
the general public accepting, and Mr. Wallace disput- 
ing it — but be the exact blood, lines what they may, it 
is conceded by all who knew Waxy and knew her 
history that she was a thoroughbred, or we might say 
a racing-bred mare, that she raced, and that she pro- 
duced in Alpha a good race-horse. That, after all, is 
the most important point about it. 

SunoFs dam, Waxana, is a stout, big mare of excel- 
lent make-up. She was well-broken and driven, and 
though she never was transferred from the breaking 
barn to the training stables she could show about a 
2:40 gait, and her action was good. 

Sunol grew into a bay mare of rather unusual and 
peculiar form, one of the most "speedy-shaped*' ever 
seen, and a veritable racing-machine in appearance. 
She stands 15.2 hands high at the wither, and measured 
at the quarter she stands full 16 hands. She has an 
exquisitely fine head, clean cut, expressive and bespeak- 
ing determination, the nostril full and delicate, and the 
eye prominent and striking. Her neck is long and 
shapely, delicately cut out at the throat ; the shoulder 
lays well back; the barrel is very deep through the 
heart region, and the back a little on the roach ed 
order, and very strong. Her height over the quarters, 
and her short, steep rump give her a somewhat re- 
markable appearance. The stifles are good, and her 
thighs of great length sweep down muscular and sinewy 
to the hocks, w^hich like her knees are excellent. Her 



BREAKING SUNOL. 



175 



legs are clean and flat and of fine quality, and she 
stands on first-rate feet. 

She was fast in the paddock, but we had trouble in 
breaking her. She was terribly high strung and 
cranky from the outset, and every time it was neces- 
sarv to bring her under any sort of control or direction 
theVe was trouble. In the hands of a rough, harsh or 
bad-tempered trainer Sunol would have been ruined 
beyond a doubt. We began to break her to harness at 
a year old. We were as gentle as possible w^ith her, 
had every consideration for the high tension at which 
her nerves were strung, and endeavored to gain her 
confidence. After we had her used to the harness, and 
to being guided by bridle and rein, she was worked a 
little while by the side of a steady-going horse, and 
was then asked to go in single harness. But this the 
haughty spirit of tlie coming queen would not calmly 
brook. It was a difficult thing to get her into the 
shafts, and after she was in she would do about every- 
thing possible except go ahead in a decorous and 
proper manner. In the skeleton- wagon she was 
mean — would go sideways, stop, turn, etc., and in short 
her course of education, in the breaking- barn, was a 
rather turbulent one— and she did not graduate with 
the highest honors, as to docility and reliabihty, when 
she was transferred from that primary department 
into my training-school in the fall of 1887. But that 
great sieve, the miniature track, had sifted her out as 
pure wheat, and we knew before we broke her that 
she was the rough stone that only required the 
trainer's polish to transform into a gem of the bright- 
est ray. 



176 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

For a good while after she came into my stable we 
could count upon an hour's time as the average dura- 
tion of the process of hitching Sunol to a sulky, Not 
that slie was exactly vicious, but she had and has a 
will, a temper and a determination of her own, and 
at that time every individual hair seemed to contain 
a nerve. 

I worked her very carefully through the winter of 
1SS7-S8, stepping her fast for a short distance every 
other day or two. I strove to " gentle " her and never 
to do anything to make her dislike her exercise and 
work on the track. After slie began going fast I 
■would usually take her first to the back-stretch, where 
there was less to disturb and annoy her than on the 
stretch near the stables; and, after working there 
about long enough, I would step her around and down 
the stretch at the rate of about 0:35 to the quarter. I 
never would drive over half a mile fast at one brush, 
and, generally, the brushes were nearer a quarter than 
a half. This system of work continued until July, 
when we shipped to Los Angeles, where she was 
entered in a two-year-old race to be trotted August 5th. 
We arrived at Los Angeles about July 20th, and up till 
this time Sunol had never been driven a mile at 
speed in her life. Four days before the race I gave 
her a full mile in 2:40|^, which was her first work at 
a mile, although, as 1 have remarked, she had before 
this shown me the ability to speed at a 2:20 gait. 
I repeated her in 2:88. The next day she was 
merely exercised, and the second day before the race 
I gave her another mile and repeat in 2:36 and 
2:33^. In the race her only opponent was Hon. L. J. 




:ij 



'1 


^% 


t' 


o t 


\ 


^ « 


\ 


D^ 


'\ 


W Q 




o 


• 


u 




CJ 


\ 


a! 







BREAKING THE RECORD. 177 

Eose's filly Yesolia, by that great horse Stamboul, 
2:12^, and she was quite a good filly, by the way. 
My single fear was that Sunol would become so fright- 
ened at the crowd that she might not steady herself. 
So before the race I endeavored to accustom her to the 
people, driving easily up and down the stretch on two 
or three occasions. Still she was hardly reconciled to 
the noise and excitement of the race-track, but she won 
the race in 2:341^ and 2:25. We then went home and 
trained her as usual, driving no more miles, but speed- 
ing fast quarters, with an occasional " pipe-opener " at 
a half. Her next engagement was at Petaluma, 
August 22d. After going to Petaluma I drove her a 
mile and repeat in 2:38 and 2:33. This was on the 
20th. In the race she had Margaret S. (by Director) 
and Fortuna against her. She broke going away in 
the first heat, but settled and Avon it in 2:28|^. The 
next heat she won in 2:26f, almost walking under the 
wire. We returned to Palo Alto, and kept her at 
home until the second week in October, when we went 
to the Bay District track, at San Francisco. Here she 
was driven a mile and repeat on two occasions — the 
first in 2:32 and 2:35, and the second in 2:28| and 2:23. 
The latter work was on the 18th. On the 20th she 
was to start against the two-year-old record — 2:21 — 
made by Wildflower, but she was not in condition to 
do herself full justice. She was suffering from troubles 
])eculiar to her sex, and being naturally of a nervous 
temperament, was not near her best. But she suc- 
ceeded in breaking the record in 2:20|^. I was not 
satisfied with this, and decided to remain at the track 
for another week and give her another trial on the 



ITS TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

2Tth. AYe worked her no more full miles in the mean- 
time, but endeuvored to have her on edge as to speed, 
and to feel as well as possible under the circumstances. 
The track was good that day, excepting immediately 
in front of the grand-stand, where it had not dried out 
perfectly. My friend Orrin Ilickok drove the run- 
ning-horse in this trial, and nf) man could do it with 
better judgment. I carried my watch as usual — in my 
hand — and according to its showing we went the first 
quarter in 0:-35, the second in 0:35, the third in 0:34 
and the fourth in 0:34 — 2:18. The judges caught the 
same time for the mile, but their official verdict as to 
the fractional time differed slightly from mine, they 
making it 0:35, 0:34^, 0:34J, 0:34^. This performance 
of course made Sunol's name world-famous, and it was 
conceded to be, all things considered, the greatest per- 
formance ever seen ; and, excejiting her own 2:10^} at 
three years old, I know of no more creditable trottins' 
performance on record than 2:18 for a two-year-old. 

After this Sunol was talcen home and given a vaca- 
tion for the winter. She was not, turned out, but had 
her exercise regularly in tlie skeleton-wagon, never, 
however, being speeded fast. About midwinter I had 
her turned out one day in a grassy paddock, and she 
was so full of animal spirits tliat, in rearing and pranc- 
ing, she strained a tendon in the right hind leg. This 
swelled up, and at one time gave me some reason to 
fear tliat it might have a serious influence on her future 
as a turf star. But I treated it constantly with cooling 
lotions, and two or three good cold shower-baths a 
week, and in time all signs of the trouble disap- 
peared. This gave rise to an erroneous rumor that 



SUNOL AND LILLIAN WILKKS. 179 

I had been ti'ainiii<;- her uiidoi" jii'ctty lugh pressure 
during the winter, and that she had l)roken down. 

She was given only exercise until iny return rroni 
NeAV York, May lyth. Then I found her- hind ankles 
not in the best of shape, but commenced jogging her. 
It was about a month before 1 dared give her fast 
work ; and she was brushed very little until I had her 
legs w^ell seasoned. Then I worked her on our usual 
speed-making plan until she could step a quarter in 
about 0:30. Having the necessary speed, I gave her 
mile and repeat work, and when I left home she was 
in splendid form, and fit to race with anything. At 
the Bay District track she caught cold, and this 
developed a case of distemper so severe that she did 
not eat for five days. At Napa the weather was 
intensely hot, which did not agree with her. Her 
appetite was not go<xl, and being a very highly organ- 
ized mare, of nervous temperament, she became much 
reduced. I skipped the Santa llosa Meeting, thinking 
she wouhl have ample time to recover her sti'cngth 
before filling her engagement at Petalunui. Ihit she 
was more reduced than I su])posed, and was far from 
being I'ight when slie mot Lillian Wilkes and Margaret 
S., at retalunui, August 21>th. My fi'iend Goldsmith 
had Lillian Wilkes in fine shape, and Margaret S. made 
me go the first heat in 2:21^. Then Lillian was cut 
loose and won the race in 2:17|, 2:22, 2:25. I think, 
however, even in the condition Sunol was, I could that 
day have beaten Lillian single-handed. 

A week later, at Oakland, Sunol again met Lillian 
Wilkes and Margaret S., and avenged the Petaluma 
defeat, winning in straight heats in 2:21, 2:24^, 2:20. 



180 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

Here is a list of her other achievements in 1889: — 

Sacramento, September 12th, walk-over. Time, 
2:16i. 

Sacramento, September 17th, beat Margaret S. Time, 
2:20i, 2:2C)|, 2:18. 

Fresno, October 2d, against time — 2:13f. 

San Francisco, October 12th, walk -over. Time, 
2:15|. 

San Francisco, November 9th, walk -over. Time, 
2:10i. 

Napa, November ICth, against time — 2:15. 

The fight between Axtell and Sunol, for the three- 
year-old championship, was the all-absorbing event of 
the trotting turf of 1889. When Axtell trotted in 
2:14, at Chicago, our Eastern friends were confident, 
but Sunol's 2:13f set them at work again, and at Terre 
Haute Axtell trotted in 2:12. Then all the East was 
a,blaze with joy, and hardly a man dared be so rash as 
predict-that Sunol would beat it, but when she trotted 
in 2:10^ all candid men recognized that, great as Axtell 
is, the world has never seen Sunol's equal. For a three- 
year-old to beat 2:12 by one and one-half seconds is 
certainly conclusive. Seconds are big things when you 
go down around 2:12. So the season of 1889, opening 
somewhat unfavorably, was one of great triumph for 
Sunol, for she closed it as plainly the greatest of all 
three-year-olds, as she proved herself in 1888 the 
greatest of all two-year-olds. If no misha]) befalls 
her she is destined to reign queen of the turf ! 

Though I have left many really great young trotters 
unsketched, here we must conclude the historical por- 
tion of this work. It has already gone far beyond the 



WHAT OUK SYSTEM HAS DONE. 181 

limit intended in my original }3lan, but when I come to 
write it I find so much that should be said that greater 
condensation was liardly possible. Though not as 
instructive, perhaps, as the chapters that follow, the 
history we have given is not, I think, without its 
lessons, and certainl}' not without much bearing on the 
remaining chapters of this work. The little glimpses 
I have given of how we trained these famous trotters 
will show that we have not followed altogether in 
beaten paths, and that our departures from old- 
fashioned grooves have not been barren of good results. 
To train 

A yearling to trot in 2:31|^ ; 

A two-year-old to trot in 2:18 ; 

A three-year-old to trot in 2:10^ ; 

A four-year-old to trot in 2:16 ; 

A stallion to trot in 2:1 2^ ; 
(the four first being the w^orld's record for their 
respective ages, and the latter within a quarter of a 
second of the present stallion record), to say nothing 
of the many others whose performances were less 
sensational, is not a bad showing for ten years' work at 
one farm. I have told as briefly as I can do so justly 
what this system of training has accomplished. ISTow 
I propose to describe what the system of training is 
that has given such gratifying results. 



182 TRAINING THE TKOTTING HORSE. 



CHAPTER XY. 

A CHAPTER ON EARLY TRAINING — THE SUBJECT CONSIDERED 

IN VARIOUS PHASES HIRAM WOODRUFF AND HIS DAY 

THE ADVANCE SINCE THEN TROTTERS NOW COME TO 

THEIR SPEED EARLY THE PREJUDICE AGAINST EARLY 

TRAINING PASSING AWAY A PRACTICAL NECESSITY 

WITH BREEDERS WHO BREED FOR PROFIT TIME THAT 

MEANS MONEY THE BENEFITS OF EARLY TRAINING 

ARE LASTING — IT MUST NOT BE OVERDONE THE PAST 

AND PRESENT CONTRASTED. 

The first man to earn a name as a trainer of trotting 
horses, and to publish liis experiences and liis opinions, 
was Hiram Woodruff, and his boolc — " The Trotting 
Horse of America" — is read as a standard worlv to-day, 
though Woodruff has been under the Long Island sod 
for over twenty years, and the crude methods of his 
day have been reduced to quite a fine art. I have no 
desire to speak other than respectfully of the pioneer 
of our profession or of his work. Trotting, me might 
say, was born in his day, and he had not, as we now 
have, the experiences and examples of others to profit 
by. In all horse-training for speed there are general 
princii)les that always apply, and the work that con- 
fronted Hiram Woodruff and tlie other trainers of his 
generation was to modify the principles of training the 
race-horse to suit the development of speed in the 
trotter. And though these methods were crude, as all 



OLD-TIME YOUNGSTERS. 183 

new processes are, and thouo;h some of the ideas that 
Woodruff believed most firmly in are no longer ten- 
able, his boolv can stili be read with profit, for in the 
record of what his exi)eriences taught him are many 
sterling truths of horsemanship. 

It is no part of my purpose to criticise the methods 
or the opinions of others whose experience lias given 
them the right to si)eak with some degree of authority 
on the subject of training. Every trainer has his own 
ideas, his own peculiar methods, and his own reasons 
for them. "We can well learn from each other, and it 
is therefore best that we should all be tolerant of the 
opinions and practices of others. I shall therefore, in 
the following chapters confine myself as closely as I 
conveniently can to explaining our system of training 
rather than criticising the methods of other trainers. 
I do not counsel any trainer or breeder to discard 
methods that he has found successful and substitute 
ours ; but what the methods I am to explain have 
accomplished entitles them, in my judgment, at least, 
to the careful consideration of all horsemen as an im- 
proved system of training young horses to trot. 

The thoroughbred race-horse of this day is just about 
as good at three years old as he ever is, but in the early 
years of the racing breed it was not so. " In the days 
of Flying Childers, Eclipse, Bay Malton, Gimcrack, 
Manibrino, etc., the race-horses were not commonly 
trained until they were five years old." So in Hiram 
"Woodruff's day the trotter was quite mature in years 
before he was expected to show high cai)acit\' on tlie 
turf, while in our day we expect great performances at 
three and four years old, and often at two years old. 



184 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

Woodruff quotes as quite wonderful the two-year-old 
performance of Young America in 3:06, the mile of 
Cora at three years old in 2:37, and of Ethan Allen in 
2:36 at four years old. The two and three-year-old 
records of his day were, as they seem to us now, 
ridiculously slow, and he was in his grave for seven 
years before either a three or a four-year-old trotted a 
mile as fast as 2:30. Between the best three-year-old 
and four-year-old record and the all aged records of 
Woodruff's time, there was such a wide gap that he 
naturally believed that a horse must be nine or ten 
years old before he was ready for great performances. 
" His own loved Lady Thorn " was when he died ten 
years old, but had not reached her best, and Dexter 
had not then beaten Flora Temple's 2:19|, but as he 
Avas only eight the old-time trainer reasoned that with 
a little more age he would do it. To come down a 
little further, fifteen years ago there was a gap of fifteen 
seconds between the fastest three-year-old record and 
the fastest all-aged record. Five years later the gap- 
was reduced to thirteen seconds. In five years more 
Hinda Kose had closed it up to nine and a quarter 
seconds, and only six years more have elapsed and we 
find one three-year-old within two and a quarter 
seconds of the fastest record for any age, and another 
within one and three-quarter seconds of the fastest 
record. The history of the running-breed and the 
trotting-breed has been identical in this respect. 
The older the breed grows, and hence the higher 
its natural capacity in the special purpose for which 
it is bred, the earlier this capacity manifests itself 
in a hiah deg'ree. In our earlier trotters the fast trot 



NECESSITY OF EAKLY DEVELOPMENT. 185 

was almost wholly a matter of teaching — an accom- 
plishment which it took years of practice to acquire; 
but now it is a natural quality of the breed, a capacity 
born in the horse, not wholly acquired and hence it 
develops in its fullness earlier. 

That the prejudice against early training in the past 
has hindered to some extent the progress in breeding 
the trotter I do not doubt. One effect was undeniably 
the diverting from the trotter of the attention of men 
who would breed if it were not that they believed it 
necessary to wait many years for any return from 
their capital, labor and care. They saw that they 
could breed race-horses and begin reaping the harvest 
of their success in three years at furthest, whereas the 
prevailing sentiment would have it that the trotter at 
three years was too young to even begin to educate. 
But this prejudice is to a great extent passing away. 
The business of breeding has now^ reached a point 
where few breeders have the inclination, ev^en if they 
were financially able or believed it beneficial, to wait 
six or seven 3^ears for the get of their stallions and the 
produce of their mares to show w^hat their blood is 
worth. The buyer who selects a few youngsters — a 
stallion, perhaps, to head a future stud, or a filly or 
two for the harem — does not want to wait for years to 
find out whether they are worth keeping and breeding 
from or not. Hence he buys the blood that trots 
young. The small breeder who wishes to stint his 
favorite mare feels that at the very best he must wait 
a weary time; therefore he selects the stallion whose 
colts develop early speed. Again, and for these same 
reasons, the cream of the patronage goes to such stall- 



186 TEAINING THE TROTTING HOKSE. 

ions, for they gain prestige and popularity before tiie 
sire of a slow maturing tribe gets a start, and the latter 
loses more ground at the beginning than he can ever 
make up. Tlie breeder with a large stud cannot sell 
his stock at paying prices or cannot attract attention 
to his horses until the youngsters trot, and so his every 
interest impels him to breed from blood that trots 
young, and to train the progeny young and prove that 
they are young trotters. The sooner that is done, the 
sooner the harvest begins. Until it is done money is 
going out — after it is done money begins to come in. 
When the brood-mare produces a performer at an 
early age her money producing power is much greater 
than if that honor came late in life when her prolific 
days were waning. Business wisdom and business 
necessity point the ])atli to success in breeding from 
early-trotting blood and in developing it early. 

These facts sufficiently account for the growing ten- 
dency toward early training and trotting and the ])ub- 
lic preference for blood that trots young and trots fast. 
Some of our great families of the past have been, it is 
true, the slow-maturing ones ; but there are just as good 
families that we are not compelled to expend time and 
money in unnecessarily waiting upon. The earliest 
blood matures none too early; nor can the breeder 
bring out his colts, if they are good, any too early for 
the best results. 

But I fancy I hear some one say : " Yes, we grant 
that it ma}' pay better to train and trot your horses 
young, but will you produce horses as good at nuiturity 
in that way as the breeder does who waits upon them 
until they are older, their bones full grown and set. 



EAKLY TRAINING. 187 

and their whole ])hysical or;L;aiiization better fitted to 
stand the wear and tear of training f 

My answer is, " Yes, if they are properly trained," 
and, of course, when I speak of the benefits of early 
training, it is assumed that it is judicious training. 
Four colts out of five that have suffered from early 
training iiave not suffered because they were trained 
young, but because they were not properly trained. 
There are many men wdio can train a mature horse, 
and still more who can successfully drive him after 
somebody else has trained him ; but the men capable 
of properly and intelligently educating colt trotters are 
as scarce as 2:15 horses. To listen to much of the 
clamor against colt training, one would imagine that 
asred horses never were known to break down. All 
horses gifted with natural speed have not the capacity 
to train on ; and a horse lacking in this respect will 
inevitably "go wrong" before he reaches the limit of 
his speed capacity, no matter when he is trained. If 
he goes wrong at two years old he will be a cheaper 
failure than if he goes wrong at ten years old. If a 
stallion has not the power to make a great sire, and his 
get have not the capacit}'' and quality to make good 
performers the quicker the owner and trainer find it 
out the better. 

I am not only strong in the belief that the colt can 
be trained for speed from his infancy without injury, 
but that such training, if successfully and judiciously 
given, is a great and lasting benefit. It will make him 
a better aged horse. Let two colts in all other things 
equal be raised together, the one trained from his 
vearling form, the other not worked until he is five 



188 TRAINING THE TROTTIXU HORSE. 

years old, and the chances are not one in ten that the 
latter will ever see the day that he is the equal of his 
trained brother, either in speed or in any of the 
qualities that go to make a race-horse. He will not 
only be uneducated, of untrained instinct and willful, 
but he will be deficient in physical as well as mental 
development, as conijiared with the trained one. Can 
the lounger run, leap, or wrestle with the athlete whose 
muscles have the substance, hardness and tone of long 
and constant training ? 

If you ask me whether a great and straining effort 
by a young colt will prove permanently detrimental, I 
will answer, "As a rule, yes." We are all too anxious, 
and many a colt has been a victim to the driver's 
impatience to accomplish in a week what should not 
have been attempted in two months. But, on the other 
hand, you can train a colt, and, if exceedingly promis- 
ing, you can give him a fast record without necessarily 
requiring of him an exhausting effort. There is one 
thing I will endeavor to impress it upon the reader 
here, and I will endeavor to impress it upon him again 
and again. It is tliis : " Never require of the colt more 
than he can do within liimself. ]^ever overdo the 
work. Never carry him to the last inch of effort, to 
the point of exhaustion, for at that point not only does 
all development cease but you have probably undone 
many weeks of work, and have, perhaps, inflicted per- 
manent injury. The reader will not fail to appreciate 
how delicate a thing the training of the young trotter 
is. A hajipy medium must always be preserved — a 
little misstep — a little error in judgment may bring all 
your efforts to naught. If you do not cany it far 



KINDNESS. 189 

-enough your work will be barren of immediate results, 
while if you carry it t(jo far you will not only spoil all 
that is alreath' done but ruin the material that may be 
the making of a star performer. It calls for the most 
careful judgment, eternal vigilance and keen discrimi- 
nation in knowing how far to go. 

Another thing the reader's attention is directed to at 
the outset. No cast-iron set of rules can be laid down 
to fit every case. The same medicine will not suit 
every patient, the same diet and training is not best 
for all children, and all colts cannot be treated exactly 
alike. While no trainer can fail to increase his skill 
by studying the experiences of others, ten volumes will 
not relieve him from the necessity of using his own 
brains. Just as every man that was ever born differs in 
•some respects in his mental, moral and physical nature 
from every other man, so do all horses differ, and from 
every colt the trainer trains he must learn another 
lesson. He must study the disposition and the tempera- 
ment, respect the peculiarities and have regard to the 
physical differences as well, of each of his pupils. And, 
above all, my friend, do not go about your work like a 
slave driver; do not conduct yourself as thougii the 
colts were unfeeling, unintelligent brutes. Treat them 
for what they are — the noblest of God's creations after 
the human famiW. If you are a manly man you treat 
children with respect for their age and their undisci- 
plined minds — you show them the gentler side of your 
nature. Remember then that the colts are the children 
of their kind. They are delicate and their feelings 
more sensitive, and their dispositions more easily 
spoiled than those of the full grown horse. Firmness 



190 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

is sometimes required ; there is always occasion for 
g-entleness, but harshness, violence and bad temper are 
vices in a colt-trainer that wholly unfit him for his 
business. The trainer that has the colts' confidence and 
respect will do more and tlo it easier than the one who 
is regarded by the colt with only fear and disti'ust. 
You will never either scare or club, him into being- a 
record-breaker ; if it cannot be done by rational educa- 
tion it cannot be done at all. 

Twenty years ago tlie average trainer believed that 
the time to break a colt was at from three to four years 
old. The first performance was a stand-up fight be- 
tween the trainer and the colt, and perhaps the colt 
came out of the mill worsted — he certainly came out 
worse. It took all conceivable apj^liances to hold him. 
He was strong and willful, had never known subjection, 
and hence fiercely resented it. By the time he was 
" broken " to go properly, the trainer thought he had 
educateil him, while in fact he had simph^ broken his 
spirit. Then when the colt was subdued to tract- 
ability, and training him to trot began, he was worked 
like an old horse, speeded mile heats, and two or three 
or four of them in a day, according to whether the 
trainer believed in '' plenty work " or not. He, accord- 
ing to these old ideas, must be reduced low in flesh, 
well " drawn up," and hence he was " put on rations " 
and his appetite denied especially before a race. Then 
the horse was not considered of much account unless he 
would "take hold of the bit," or in other words unless 
he was a puller, and many of the matches were not so 
much matches between horse and horse as between 
driver and horse. Has not every farmer's boy been 



TIIK OLD AND THE NEW. 191 

oharmed by the pictures of old-time trotters with the 
driver hiving- back in ii manner that suggested that the 
reins must have had the strength of traces I AV^e no 
longer believe in pulling to the half-mile pole, and then 
riding home. The idea that it helps a horse's speed to 
draw a man's weight on his under jaw is hardly a 
reasonable one. In the old days, too, all the ap]:)liances 
were coarse and heavy. The tracks wei'e crude and 
rough, and until twelve or fifteen 3^ears ago the seventy- 
five pound sulky was concidered a " frail bark " indeed. 
Now all this is changed. The youngster is born and 
grows up under control — he never knows absolute 
freedom and therefore he never feels subjection. He 
is taught at the time when teaching is easy, when he 
is young, that he cannot oppose his strength to man's 
strength, and hence there is no violent struggle for the 
mastery, with its evil after effects on body and disposi- 
tion. Before he is strong enough to make stubborn 
resistance he has forgotten that there is anything to 
resist. To go as he is guided and do as he is directed, 
has become his natural habit. And then when he is 
trained he is not asked to do work beyond his years 
and strength. His whole early life is an inductional 
course of education. His mouth is not made callous 
and harsh, and he is not taught to regard his lessons in 
trotting as a dreaded process of running the gauntlet 
between two fires — the bit in front and the whip 
behind. His harness and the thirty-eight or forty 
pound sulky which he draws are so light, perfectly 
fitted and balanced, that they seem a part of himself. 
The artificial appliances on his legs and feet are not 
ponderous hinderances, but easy -fitting, light and com- 



192 TKAiNmt; tiik thottinct hokse. 

fortable protectors, giving- liiiii the coui'iige to extend 
himself, without any fear of striking a tender cord. In 
short, we have come nearer to nature in our latter-day 
training than did the famous trainers of the past 
generation, and our systems are not only more simple, 
reasonable and eflficacious, but more humane. Is it 
then wonderful that with better-bred horses, and with 
such improvement in the methods and appliances of 
training, the trotter of to-day has made such rapid 
advancement in the matter of speed 'I 



EARLY TREATMENT. 193 



CHAPTER XYI. 

THE FIRST DAYS OF THE COLT's LIFE WEANING TIME — 

FEEDING COLT AND DAM HALTERING AND LEARNING 

TO LEAD — THE BENP:FITS OF COMPANIONSHIP — THE 
"kindergarten" THE EVOLUTION OF THE TRAIN- 
ING-PADDOCK PLANS AND DIRECTIONS THE COLT's 

FIRST LESSON IN TRAINING T(J TROT. 

Some pliilosopliei* lias said that the proper time to 
begin training the colt is before lie is born, and there 
is a good deal of truth in this. The discussion of this 
part of the colt's training, however, would carry us 
into the realm of breeding, and therefore we will let it 
pass for the present, as for our immediate puri)ose it 
Avill do to begin after the colt comes into the world. 

If the climate will afford it, as it does with us at 
Palo Alto, the new-born colt should be turned out in 
the warm sun during the day with his dam, and of 
course housed at night. As long as he is well it is best 
to leave him pretty much to tiie care of his mother for 
the first few months. In this climate, after he is about 
two and a half months old, he is left out day and night, 
and in case the grass should not be good, other feed 
must be given. See to it that the mother is kept 
strong and stout. Especially if she has been Ijred and 
is again in foal, she must be kept thrifty and given 
abundance of nourishing food. She has then not only 



164 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

SUDIE D. TAKES THE YEARLING HONORS TO KENTUCKY FOR 
A BRIEF SEASON NORLAINE, THE CHAMPION YEAR- 
LING — HER TRAINING SHE BREAKS SUDIE D.'s REC- 
ORD IN 2:31-| — NORVAL, 2:17^, her sire — sallie 
BENTON, 2:17f, the champion four -year -old of 
her day — HELEN, 2:22f — SPHINX, 2:23 — bell boy, 

2:19^ — CHIMES AND SUISUN OTHER STARS. 

From the day that Hinda Rose made her record of 
2:36^ in 1881 there was no yearhng produced in 
America to threaten that record until the season of 
1887, and as long as it was not menaced Ave made no 
effort to improve it. But a surprise came from Ken- 
tucky in the year last mentioned, when the deeds of 
Sudie D. made her famous. This filly is by Sherman's 
Hambletonian, out of a daughter of American Clay, 
and must have shown great promise early in the sum- 
mer, for it was said that Bowerman Bros., of Lexing- 
ton, bought her in August for $1,300. After George 
Bowerman drove her a trial in 2:36, John S. Clark, of 
Kew Jersey, gave — so the papers said — $5,000 for her. 
He started her at Lexington, October 15th, and she 
went the mile in 2:35|. When the news arrived that 
the Palo Alto ^^earling record had been eclipsed we 
at once set to work to bring the honor back. The 
time was short, and we had to pick a good one of 



NOKLAINE. 165 

our youngsters and push development at high pres- 
sure. The most forward of our yearhngs Avas the 
fill}^ Korlaine, by Norval (present record, 2:17^), out of 
Elaine, 2:20 — the fast mare by Messenger Duroc, out 
of Green Mountain Maid, whose history I have 
ah'eady given. She was a rather dull brown in color, 
a trifle pony-built in some respects, but with a long, 
low-set bod}^ short, sloping hip of the pacing forma- 
tion, and low at the wither. Her legs and feet were 
of the best quality, and she had a level head. Norlaine 
was not impressive in appearance until you saw her 
go. She was always fast from her first lesson on the 
miniature track, and I began working her in April, 
but gave her only the easiest of work, as the intention 
was not to start her until she was two years old. But 
Sudie D.^s brilliant performance iu October changed 
all this, and I then began training the filly in earnest, 
working her twice a day. In doing this, of course, I 
took chances of injuring her, and, indeed, of breaking 
her down. Had we began earlier she could have been 
given more work, and could have been developed to a 
higher point, with little or no risk; but we never allow 
such considerations to stand in the way when the 
supremacy of Palo Alto in colt records is at stake. 
The filly took her hard work with relish, and im])roved 
under it until November 12th, when we felt that she 
was equal to the task of plucking the fresh laurels 
from Sudie D.'s brow. The trial was made at the Bay 
District track, San Francisco, and she trotted the mile 
in 2:31-|, a yearling record that has a good chance to 
last as long as Hinda Rose's. The time by quarters 
was 0:39, 0:36, 0:38, 0:38^. Now I wish to say that I 



196 TKAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

thing, and, therefore, the reassuring effect of having a 
companion with him is very beneficial, and renders the 
work easier for both trainers and colts. By leading 
one after the other alternately they learn very quickly, 
their natural inclination to follow each other being a 
helpful influence. Let the boys lead them to the pad- 
docks in the morning and back to the boxes at night, 
lead them to grass and ])ack, and to and fro, around 
here and there, until they are perfectly gentle, halter- 
wise and easily caught. If this training has been 
intelligently and gently done, the colt will come to call 
in the fields and show all the confidence of an old 
horse. The colts should never be meaninglessly played 
with, or petted beyond reason ; nor should they ever be 
teased, frightened, whipped or in any way abused. 
My advice to every breeder and owner is that if your 
man abuses your colt, or horse either, no matter how 
good a trainer he may be, never overlook more than 
the first offence. At the second " bounce" him. 

All this time, of course, the colt is to be right well 
fed and cared for. Each pair will be kept in a clean, 
warm, well-ventilated box, and each one attended to 
and fed as though the whole hope of the farm depended 
upon him. He will relish oats, good grass and hay, 
and don't be afraid that he will eat too much. After 
he is thoroughly halter-wise he will be ready for the 
lesson in preparation for his turf career. This is given 
in the miniatm^e track — or, as it may be called, the 
kindergarten — and as this is a very important factor in 
our system of training, and one invented and used at 
Palo Alto, I will describe it with some fullness. 

The evolution of the miniature track is part of the 



THE MINIATURE TKACK. 19T 

history of Palo Alto, and its origin dates back to the 
spring of 1870. That season Bentonian and Fred 
Crocker were our most promising yearlings, and, to 
show then' gait, we used to chase them in the paddock 
where they ran out. Naturally, when they got a-going 
along one side they would trot right up into the corner 
and then stop. To obviate this we saw that the corners 
must be rounded off. The next move was to throw up 
the turns a little, and then to prevent them making 
short cuts we built a brush fence ten feet from the 
outer fence of the paddock. Now we had a miniature 
track in the crudest form. Soon the colts learned the 
trick of jumping the brush, and we made another 
improvement by putting a lovv^ board fence around in 
place of the brush, and making a good dirt track. But 
they also jumped our new fence, and next we struck 
upon the idea of building a higher fence, with the rail 
inclined, so that they could " hug it" around and not 
strike their legs on the posts. So from a rough be- 
ginning our track was improved and perfected until we 
have the paddocks of to day. I need hardly say that 
with the improvement in the track we improved in our 
skill in using it, as well as in appreciation of its great 
value as an invention in training equipments. 

We have now two of these miniature tracks at Palo 
Alto, and to make their form and construction wholly 
plain to the reader, I supplement my descrii)tion with 
clear drawings and plans. These tracks, it will be 
seen, are laid off in oval shajie like a mile track, with 
proportionate turns and stretches. The track should 
be made of soil good for the feet, and should always be 
kept deep and soft. The turns should be thrown up 



198 



TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 



very sharply, especially in the case of one built on the 

smaller of the two plans 
given in our cuts. On 
such a track six or seven 
inches to the foot is not 
too steep for the ends. 
The track should be about 
ten feet wide. The inner 
rail should be set at a good 
angle (see Diagram of 
Covered Training Pad- 
dock, Figure A), so that 
there can be no danger of 
the colt striking his feet or 
legs against the posts. 
This rail should be about 
high enough to strike the 
yearling colt a little above 
the center of the barrel. 
This top rail should be 
about five inches wide, of 
pretty stout material, and 
the edges nicely rounded 
off. Do not have an}^ more 
posts than are necessary, 
so that the view will not be 
obstructed. You want to 
see how the colt handles 
his feet and legs, and if 
you have too man}^ posts 
it will prove confusing to 
the eye to watch his 





DIAGRAM A— COVERED TRAINING - PAD- 
DOCK — DISTANCE AROUND CENTER 
OF DRIVE 313 FEET. 



TRAINING PADDOCKS. 



l^D 



motion. To be on the safe side, altiaough if they are 



.set at the rig-ht angle there 
danger, 



is really little 
round off the edges of the 
posts, so that should the 
colt by any mishap come 
in contact ^Yith them he 
will not be cut. I have 
seen colts that were going- 
fast and trying to stop 
and turn suddenly, some- 
times throw themselves 
under the rail, and in such 
a slip of course a leg may 
be struck. But owing to 
the softness of the track 
it is really very rare with 
us for a colt to sustain an}^ 
injury in the training pad- 
dock, either by falling, 
slipping, striking, or strain- 
ing. 

I would not advise any 
breeder to build a smaller 
track than our covered 
training paddock. One a 
trifle larger would be bet- 
ter. The other diagram 
is of a large open-air pad- 
dock. We work our \^oung- 
sters almost Avholly in the 
covei-ed paddock, and only 




DIAGRAM ^— TRAINING-PADDOCK - 
TANCE AROUND CENTER OF 
506 FEET. 



200 TKAININ(} 'IIIK 'ri{(tl"l'IN() IIOKSK. 

use tlio larger one when we wish to see how colts of 
say a year and a half to two yeai-s handle themselves. 
This track can l)e used, however, to veiy ^'ood ad van- 
taw, thoMii'li as l)('t\V('(Mi the two tlu^ siiialicM' one will 
bo found tlui more useful, aiul {iasi(!r to train in. Two 
men can train in the: smaller ])addock, and it will re- 
(|uii'e three; to propei'ly woi'k a colt in (lu^ lar^(>r one. 

Now we liaA'(^ tlu; ti'a(^k all i-cady, and as we had the 
colt thoroughly halter-wise before desci'ihinn- what the 
ti'aiiiin^--|)addo('lv is like, w<i are I'eady to ^'ivc him his 
iirst lessons. After the colt has Ixmmi <;iv(Mi his hrcak- 
iast and had his <j;'(MU'ral morning- " fixing' u|)," we sna[) 
tli(^ lea(lin<;"-line into the halter and tal<(! him over to 
the ))addoclv. Now we put on the hoots, ami must bo 
V(M'y cai'i^ful that they (it Ihoi'ou^hly and arc; the woi'k 
of some oii(> who knows how to make hoots foi' youn^" 
colts. Have ^ood shin-hoots all around — boots that 
will thoroughly pi-otect the shins and tendons, that tit 
well and will not cluife. You also want (luai'tcM'-boots 
all arouiul, and I much ])refer the bell-hoot. Some 
lioj-semen ])rofess to have a groat aversion to boots, 
and never tire talking of "the kind that go without 
boots." I'ecause wo boot a colt is no reason for sup- 
posing that wo know ho will strike himself. They are 
used as a safeguard-r-as a [n'ovontivo against possible 
accidents and injuries. You may work a colt or horse 
nine times without hoots and he may never touch a 
hair, but the tenth time he may make a false step, nuiy 
lind a bad place in the track, becouio unbalanced and 
bi'eak,and I care; not how pure-gaited he nuiy be, he is 
,quite likely to cut a quarter or strike a tendon, or sus- 
tain anv of the many varieties of such injuries, ranging 



KIUHT IJOHHON. 20 1 

in conso(|U('noo (Voiii a Icmponiry disability or spoiling;- 
tli(;^iiit to pcniiaiioiil rclicciiKint. Do not l;ik(!(;li;iii(;('S 
witii a n(,()(l colt; hoot liiiii siil'oly. It- is hcttci- to ho 
siir(^ tli;m sorry. No trairusr of (^viicriciioc or ahility 
will ii('^l('c;t this iiMporlarit point in traiiiin;^'. 

Having' hooted liiinall ri;^ I it, lake, him into th(! track' 
aJid l(!ad liiiri aroiuid it s<;v(M'al tiiiH^s until he is thor-- 
oMi^ldy hiniiliar" with his new snrronndin^s. Tln^n hd; 
a iniin follow him aronnd, and ^ivc; him pretty niiudi 
his own way until he has time to inspect the ])a(ldo<',k, 
a]i|)rov(! of it and h(U'ome r(!Conciled to the arran^^o 
ments. A\'Un' doin^' all this without hurry or hustle, 
it will he time to turn him lof)se. (^ui(!tly unsrui|) tin? 
leading' roj)e Ironi tlio halter and stai't him around. If 
he wants to run, let him do it at first ; he will soon tire 
of it and settle to a trot.. After a pniliminary run or 
so, endeavor to keep him at the trot as much as pos- 
sible. 'rw(j men will stand in th(! inclosure inside the 
track; one near either end, and will be ])rovided with 
whi))s with lon<^' lashes and snapp(;rs. The colt will 
soon leacn to obey the sound, tli<^ swish and the snap 
of these whips, together with the; (;ommands of the 
trainers. After you get him ])roperly to work do not 
let him run when h<! brciaJcs. l>y going toward the 
rail and slashing the whip across the track in front of 
him he will stop, and probably turn and go the; othci- 
direction of the track. T(!a(;li hiin to go around the; 
turn easy, and urge him through the stretches. Voii 
will soon learn just Ikmv much urging Ik; will statid 
and just wliat sort of dir-ection he; best understands. 
He will learn just as quickly what you want him to do, 
and you will be surpr-ised to lind him soon understand- 



202 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

ing what every crack of the whip and every shout of 
the trainer means. Be patient and gentle in these first 
lessons. They are perhaps the most important. Do 
not generate in his mind a prejudice, a dread or a dis- 
like for the track. Therefore let the first half-dozen 
lessons be short, and in showing him into the track and 
escorting him out of it, be kind, quiet and easy, so as to 
reassure him. The first few lessons and the effect they 
have on the colt's mind and disposition will have an 
important influence on his subsequent improvement. 



DAILV J'KOOKAMME. 2U3 



CHAPTER XYIL 

WORKING ON THE MINIATURE TRACK — THE DAILY PER- 
FORMANCE — AMOUNT OF WORK GIVEN — IT MUST NOT 

BE EXCESSIVE THE COLt's CONFIDENCE TO BE 

RETAINED — HITCHIKG — WORKING WITH A RUNNER — 

AN UNNATURAL METHOD OF TRAINING BALANCE AND 

STRIDE — THE BENEFIT OF THE TRAINING PADDOCK 

DEVELOPING SPEED, WIND AND MUSCLE NATURALLY. 

Now you have given the colt his first lesson, and you 
naturally desire to lay out for yourself and him a pro- 
gramme which, in your fond dreams, is to be a path- 
way to success. How much work are you to give him? 
How often is he to be worked, and how long at a time? 
What are the special benefits derived from this style 
of training ? It requires more equipment in the way 
of a track, and it is, at the outset, more costly than 
Avorking a colt with a runner, and what better is it ? 
All these and a thousand more questions you will ask 
yourself, and I fancy you are asking them of me as 
you read. I cannot answer them all at a single dash, 
but will try and deal with each as it naturally comes 
up as we go along. 

We have a great many colts to work, and to show 
the reader our " order of business " for a day, we will 
trace them through the daily routine at Palo Alto. It 
is simple enough. In the morning they are cleaned off 



204 TRAINING THE TKOTTING HORSE. 

gently antl well, watered and fed, and turned out in 
the paddock. In our paddock we have a lon^ rack 
filled with hay, and there are also watering facilities, 
so that the colts can eat and drink at leisure. We 
have, it will of course be understood, this work con- 
fined to a department, with a superintendent and force 
of men and boys who have nothing to do with any 
other work than looking after the youngsters in their 
primary school. After all have had the morning atten- 
tions above indicated, they are, one by one, worked in 
the miniature track and turned out in a paddock. After 
all have been worked we let them run in a field of good 
grass. Meanwhile, their stalls or boxes are cleaned 
out and bedded, and feed put in. Then, in the evening, 
the colts are taken up, their feet cleaned out, and then 
they are turned into their boxes all right for the 
night. 

When you first begin using the miniature track do 
not imagine that the colt is the only party concerned 
that has anything to learn. To make proper use of 
the track, to reap the best results, to do the greatest 
good with the least jarring, friction and trouble, you 
want skill as great as the man that sits in the sulky. 
True, it is not the same kind of skill exactly, but it 
requires the same order of judgment. It calls for 
coolness, watchfulness and thought. To know how 
far to go without going too far is the great point. 

You must not tire the colt. Give him a good work- 
ing (not forgetting that he is just growing out of the 
da3^s of foalhood, and yet far from being a horse), but 
be very careful that you do not make the work weari- 
some. You will teach him, as I have said, to take the 



WORK IN THE KINDERGARTEN. 205 

turns easy, and come into the stretches prepared for a 
brush. After a fe\v rounds, with three or four sharp 
brushes, let him stop if he wishes to get his breath free 
and Avell. Then start him around the other way. It 
will not do to have him go around the track one way 
all tlie time, for if you do this you will soon have him 
hitching. Making the turns always in the one direc- 
tion gets him into the habit of throwing the inside 
hind leg further than the outside one — hence the hitch- 
ing and roughness in the gait. In going around a turn 
the colt will always reach farthest with the inside foot. 
So you will endeavor to about equally divide the 
work — let him go one way about as much as the other. 
Don't scare the colt. After he has got to showing 
some speed in the stretches you can urge him by cluck- 
ing, snapping the lash, or " shooing him up " just as 
much as he will stand, but when he breaks endeavor to 
steady him with the usual calls in a reassuring voice, 
and if he persists in running stop him. A moment's 
reflection will show you how simple a thing it will be, 
but how injurious, to allow the colt to get the idea into 
his head that he is caught in a trap and being, as it 
were, " hunted." Never for a moment forget that he 
wiU learn just in proportion to the measure of his 
confidence in his trainers, and that if he becomes pos- 
sessed of the idea that he is being merely chased he 
will think nothing about trotting, but all his mind will 
be centered on getting away and keeping away from 
those he may unfortunately regard as his tormentors. 
You should always be able to catch him — not capture 
him — on the track, and when done lead him out kindly 
and quietly. About fifteen minutes will be fully 



206 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

sufficient to keep him on the track, and you will not 
require to keep him a-o;oing too brashly to have a 
pretty good " work out " for the youngster m that 
time. 

The longer he is in the ring the more work he can 
take with beneficial results. Increase it gradually, but 
always keep on the safe side. If you err at all, err in 
not giving him enough— not enough is far better than 
too much. Just as soon as a colt is overworked his 
educational progress not only ceases, but he goes back, 
and goes back by jumps compared to which his improve- 
ment is a slow process. If you find you have gone too 
far, give him a vacation, let him get thoroughly re- 
freshed, and then begin again at the beginning and go 
slow. You will readily see how much better it is not 
to overdo the thing in the first place than to have to 
go back and begin all over again. 

Provided your colt keeps all right, and is well, stout 
and strong, you can give him this work every week-day 
until he is twelve to fourteen months old, about which 
time you will break him to harness. If he is jirouiis- 
ing he will by this time have shown you a way of going 
through the stretches that will remind ^^ou of an old- 
stager on the track, and if you arc, as we will presume, 
a good judge of action and balance you will be able to 
form a pretty fair idea of what kind of a horse you are 
going to have. 

As our period of colt-education in the miniature 
track is identical with part of that at which many 
trainers work their ^'^oungsters by the side of a runner, 
I may as well here give my reasons for not resorting 
to that style of education. Some may say that I am 



/KESEKVE THE BALANCE. 207 

prejudiced against this system, but I believe I can 
claim honestly that 1 have no prejudice against any- 
thing that experiment has not given me reason to 
reject. I try to be reasonable and recognize merit 
wherever it exists. It has always seemed to me that 
the colt hitched with a runner learns to trot in a sort 
of unnatural, swinging, sailing way, without actually 
carrying his own weight, and certainly not balancing 
himself. They go fast that way no doubt, A boy can 
take hold of the rear bar of a wagon and follow it on 
a run just about as fast as a horse can trot. But is he 
running naturally? Is he balancing himself? He is 
striding about twice the distance he can naturally 
stride, and the moment he releases his grip on the bar 
he tangles his legs and falls headlong, showing that he 
is not running, but being carried practically through 
the air. We hear of yearlings trotting quarters in 
forty seconds hitched to a runner's bridle until we 
are almost forced to believe that 2:40 is the natural 
speed of these youngsters. But put them in harness 
and see how fast they can trot a quarter. When we 
time a youngster a quarter in foi*ty seconds at Palo 
Alto we are not deceiving ourselves, for he does it 
exactl}" in the way he will have to do it when he starts 
in a race. The colt that is taught to go fast with a 
runner hitched to him does not learn to pull weight, to 
balance himself, and to stride out on his own responsi- 
bility. When he is taken away from the runner and 
harnessed to a sulky he is green and out of his element. 
He misses the tow-line. Does it not seem very rational 
to bring the colt up literally in the way he should go 
rather than waste his time and yours in teaching him 



208 TKAININU THE TROTTING IIOKSE. 

a style of trotting that will never be of any use to iiim 
on the track? Let him learn something he is going to 
do, in tlie way he is y,'oing to do it, rather than in the 
way he is not going to do it. I believe the action of a 
great many good colts has been spoiled, and the 
natural smoothness and balance destroyed by this 
yanking around with a runner. Ilememl)er that bal- 
ance is a very delicate thing. Suppose you are running 
at full speed, and your head is suddenh^ drawn to one 
side, do you think the stroke can be maintained true 
and even ? JSTot at all. So this systematic unbalancing 
of the colt cannot fail to work injury. The theory, of 
course, is that the colt goes ahead of the horse, but 
will any man who watches this style of training for 
an hour tell me that this theory is strictly followed, or 
can be strictly followed, in practice ? If it is I have 
never seen it. The colt's head is hauled and jerked 
this way and that ; now he is going too fast and is 
pulled back ; again he is going too slow and is towed by 
the head ; then he goes too far out on the turns and 
his head is yanked around sideways ; next he goes too 
close and is jostled by the runner. I prefer to let a 
colt go in his own way, balancing and striding 
naturally, and holding his head in its natural position. 
You ask what the special advantages of work in the 
miniature track are. It educates the colt to stick to 
the trot, and to make that his natural order of loco- 
motion. He learns that trotting is what he is wanted 
to do, and he learns to do it well. The lirst education 
of his life is in trotting, and it grows upon him with 
his age. lie has to rely u])on himself, for he does what 
he does of himself, and without assistance. His 



EARLY PROMISE SHOWX. 209 

natural action is developed, and as he develojis speed 
he acquires ])erfection of balance, and gains complete 
control of his feet, his legs and all the muscles that are 
brought into play in trotting. "When he breaks he is 
prompt!}^ reminded that he has made a mistake, and he 
soon learns to correct it quickly and neatly. The 
youngster's mind is receptive; like a child, what he 
learns young becomes second nature to him, and the 
trotting habit becomes fixed at the same that greater 
speed, steadiness and directness of action is being 
acquired. 

The development of wind and muscle is another of 
the great benefits of this work. The well-fed, healthy 
colt that is daily worked will be a far stouter as well 
as a far speedier two-year-old than the one that has 
run idle. His muscles will be not only fuller, but 
harder and of better tone. Ilis lungs and wind will 
have developed and the action of heart and lungs will 
better meet the training test. You will see the vounsr- 
ster blow out after his work, and as the work con- 
tinues you will trace the development of lung capacity 
in the gradual improvement in wind. After the colt 
has been worked in the track a while it will take more 
Avork to " blow him out," and his wind will be finer. 
You will see the colt gain in muscular strength and 
general stoutness, and every day become more and 
more a horse. 

The action and balance of the colt in the miniature 
track you will observe is his natural action and 
balance, and 3'ou must study from it in part how to 
treat him in the future. Observe well the way he car- 
ries his head, and let that be your guide when you 



210 TRAINING THE TROTTING HOKSE. 

come to adjust his check-rein. The check is a sup]:>ort^ 
not a curbing arrangement to twist a horse's head and 
neck out of their natural position. If you study his 
balance and his action here, you will not be a])t to 
make many mistakes in "hanging" him in harness, 
shoes and sulky. 

Another very important point, and especially to 
those that have many youngsters to train, is the fact 
that the miniature track enables you to select those 
of your colts that will best repay the labor and expense 
of training. Let me work a lot of colts on this track 
for three months and I will pick out the stars, just as 
surely as they can be known three years later. All 
our famous youngsters distinguished themselves on the- 
miniature track. They gave the promise of their future 
greatness there. Sunol and Palo Alto, Manzanita and 
Bonita, Hinda Kose and all the Beautiful Bells family 
have been stars of the kindergarten, just as they were 
afterward stars on the sterner battle-field of the turf. 
And this fact proves more than any other the truth of 
what I have contended — that this is above all the best 
natural method of training young trotters now extant. 
If it were not a natural system it would not prove sa 
true an index of the capacity which the horse is after- 
ward destined to exhibit. 



FEEDING. 211 



CHAPTER XYIII. 

YOUNG COLTS TO BE LIBERALLY FED COLTS CAN BE 

SAFELY WORKED TWICE A DAY IF NECESSITY RE- 
QUIRES IT BREAKING TO HARNESS THE BITTING 

RIG LEARNING TO GO BY THE REIN IN DOUBLE 

HARNESS FIRST THEN IN SINGLE HARNESS SKELE- 
TON WAGON BEFORE SULKY FIND OUT WHAT YOU 

ARE GOING TO DO BEFORE YOU TRY TO DO IT — ADOPT 

A PROGRAMME THE NECESSITY OF KEEPING THE GAIT 

SQUARE AND PRESERVING THE NATURAL BALANCE. 

It is not my purpose to here refer at length to the 
feeding and keeping of colts and horses. I will treat 
on these details at another place. However, as we are 
now working our colt the reader may properly be 
reminded that it is important to see that the young- 
ster is kept strong and stout. A very good diet at 
this stage is, besides the usual hay, ground oats for 
the morning meal, and at night a dish of ground oats, 
barley and a dash of bran steamed, the right propor- 
tion being about three parts of oats to one of barley. 
Give the colts all they will eat up clean. A colt can- 
not get too fat before he is two years old. Between 
his growth and his work all he can eat will be assimi- 
lated. The rule is that colts go back in condition after 
weaning. This is not as it should be, for a colt that is 
properly fed and cared for will improve after weaning. 



212 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

The fact that his growth is arrested shows that after 
weaning he has insufficient or unsuitable food, and 
every breeder should be watchful at this period, for a 
set-back in the first year is never made up for. Feed 
thera well, and especially if you are working the colt 
see that he is getting plenty of good food. You will 
not hurt him by giving him too much at this age, for 
he will not eat too much. 

The colt will be worked in the miniature track in 
the manner described until he is, sa}^ fourteen months 
old, when he will be broken to harness. In judging of 
how much work he should have both before and after 
lie is broken to harness, you will be guided largely by 
what you expect to do. If he is to be driven for an 
early record as a yearling or two-year-old, he will re- 
quire pretty strong work, while if he has no engage- 
ments until later his education will be more gradual. 
But do not under any circumstances let your anxiety 
for early reputation get away with your judgment. 
Remember the injunction I have already sought to 
impress upon the reader — do not overdo it. 

We wdl suppose we have worked our colt every day 
in the miniature track, and now that he is a strong 
youngster, just past a year old, it is time to get him 
into harness. At Palo Alto we send him to the 
" breaking barn," and if you are a large breeder you 
will have a department of that kind in your stables. 
However, as far as these instructions go, it does not 
matter whether you have a breaking barn or not — it is 
the modus operandi pursued with each colt that you 
are interested in, rather than knowing how to arrange 
to do it bv wholesale. The first lesson in this breaking 



BKEAKING. 213 

is to get the colt into the bitting rig\ This consists of 
sacklle, breeching, crouper and bridle. The bridle will 
have an ordinary side-check, and the bit will be a 
snaffle, with a joint in the center. You will have 
become so familiar, by this time, with the way the colt 
carries his head that you can readily adjust the check 
just right, and be sure not to have it too tight. Lead 
him around in this every day for three or four days. 
After taking the harness off work him in the paddock ; 
then turn him out for a run of a few hours. Then 
take him to the miniature track and give him his usual 
work Avith the bitting rig on, and in a day or two you 
can let him loose in the track, or in a paddock, with 
the rig on. 

After he has become pretty well accustomed to this 
harness, make an addition to it in the shape of long 
reins. Let one man lead him at first while the other 
walks behind driving and seeking to guide him by 
the rein. Learn him to go ahead, stop, back, turn, etc. 
After a lesson or two the man at his head may be dis- 
pensed with, for if you have treated him right he will 
now understand what the rein means. Be firm, but 
not harsh with him, and see that the harness does not 
chafe or irritate him at any point, and watch that the 
bit does not hurt his mouth. Remember that the 
reason he does not do what you want him to at first is 
not because he is contrary or stubborn, but because he 
does not understand what you want. Do not mix up 
ignorance and perversity in seeking for the reasons 
why he Avill sometimes do everything but w'hat you 
want him to. When you are sure that he understands 
what you want and will not do it, it is time enough to 



214 TKAINING THE TKOTTING HORSE. 

convince him that you are the managing partner in 
the combination. Tliere is nothing more senseless 
and injurious than punishing a horse or a colt for 
not doing what he does not understand you to want 
him to do. 

After you have gotten him thoroughly accustomed 
to the harness and obedient to the rein, hitch him to 
any hght vehicle by the side of a reliable, gentle horse 
and drive him double. For the first time, about a 
quarter of a mile will be enough to go in a nice, easy, 
steady fashion, then drive your team back and quietly 
take the youngster out of the harness. Continue this 
dail}^ driving for some time, increasing it as it con- 
tinues, hitching him alternately each day on either 
side of his old-fashioned mate. This work is not for 
speed, but to thoroughly educate him to harness. He 
is getting his regular work on the miniature track 
every day, besides the harness education, so you will 
be careful that between the trotting and the driving 
he is not overdone. 

After a little while of this education he will be a 
sensible and decorous horse in harness — unless he be a 
natural fool, for, unfortunately, there are born fools 
among horses as well as among men — and will be quite 
thoroughly broken in everything as far as his experi- 
ence has gone. Now, we will shoe him with a neat, 
light shoe or plate behind, for it will shortly be neces- 
sary to have him wear toe-boots, or " scalpers" which 
the shoe must hold. You will, of course, have been 
watchful all the while that he has not been striking 
himself at any ]ilace, and is not, therefore, afraid to 
extend himself. 



IN SINGLE HARNESS. 215 

His next lesson is in single harness, and if all goes 
well he will before he knows it be going along by him- 
self just as steadily as with the old horse. Hitch him 
as usual with the "old reliable;" go a little way, re- 
turn, quietly take him out of the double rig, and hitch 
him to a skeleton wagon. I prefer the skeleton wagon 
to any other vehicle for breaking purposes. I place 
my feet on the axle, one on either side, and can thus 
assist the rein in steering him, teaching him to turn, 
etc. I must confess that a "break cart" is my pet 
aversion among training equipments. They are in 
great favor with some, but as far as I am concerned I 
have no use for them in my course of education. I 
believe that carts are responsil^le for spoiling more 
colts, knocking them out of their gait, etc., than any 
other single cause. They are long, stiff, shaky, lumber- 
ing vehicles, that must be a constant jarring handicap 
to a young colt. While many men who use these 
" break carts " to keep young colts straight with, are 
good tramers on the whole, I have as little respect for 
their judgment in this particular as I have for the cart 
itself. 

You do not work him for speed in the skeleton 
wagon, but principally to complete educating him to 
single harness. Drive him easy and do not drive him 
too far, for you are not now teaching him to drive fast, 
but rather to drive well. Keep this work up until he 
is thoroughly docile and intelligent in harness, so that 
you can depend upon his doing what you want him to 
do in obedience to voice and rein. When you have 
done this your colt is ready for the sulky, and now you 
can congratulate yourself upon having his education 
well under way. 



21 f) TRAINING TIIK TROTTING HORSE. 

He is now a yearling past — it is the early summer of 
his second year — and all the preliminary lessons hav- 
ing been learned while he was at the same time taking 
his regular work on the miniature track, the time has 
arrived when his regular track work will begin. But 
before you begin you will do well to know just what 
you want to do. Do you want to trot him as a year- 
ling ? or do you propose to go easy, give him a gradual 
and safe education, and not start him until the fall he 
is two years old, or perhaps not until he is three? 
Map out your programme so that you can work intelli- 
gently. Knowing what you are going to do and pre- 
paring to do it is half the battle. There are a great 
many Wilkins Micawbers handling horses, who are 
always waiting for something to turn up, and who 
think they are always ready for it, when in fact they 
are never ready for anything. The sailor who sails by 
chart and compass and always has in mind the course 
he is steering and the port for which he is bound, will 
make a better trip tiian the one who is drifting with 
the current and waiting for a favoring wind or tide. 
The famous recipe for cooking the hare began right : 
"First catch your hare." So at the beginning of train- 
your colt in earnest, make up your mind what you are 
going to do before you try to do it. If you are " lay- 
ing for " a two-year-old stake work him with an eye to 
that stake, and don't be distracted from your purpose 
by the little things that come along in the meantime. 
Keep your eye on that stake, and in the immortal 
words of an American philosopher " Say nothing but 
saw wood." In short, adopt a programme and stick 
to it. 



ADOPT A PROGRAMME. 217 

If you mean to trot the colt as a yearling you will 
require to work him twice a day to make sure of the 
best results. The lessons are short, but it is sharp, 
speeding'-iuaking- work; and where one work-out a day 
will be all a mature horse needs, you can give the colt a 
number of fast brushes in the morning- and again in the 
afternoon without injury, provided the work is done 
with judgment and never overdone. After exercise, all 
young animals, as I have said, recover more (juickly 
than older ones. A good, stout colt can be judiciously 
and advantageously worked twice a day until he is 
about two years old, but reniend>er the work must 
never be allowed to tell on him. He must not lose 
his stoutness, or what goes with it at this age, his 
si)irit and courage. At the first sign of track-weari- 
ness you should "letup.'" There can be nothing but 
harm come of working a jaded, failing, track-sick and ' 
spiritless colt. 

I cannot too strongly impress upon the reader who 
seeks to profit by my experiences the importance of 
care at the point at which Ave have now arrived with 
regard to checking and balancing the young trotter, 
upon which greatly dejiends the purity of his gait. He 
is just to begin his track- work, and it is very essential 
that he begin it right. I hold that if your horse is not 
trotting perfectly square, if there is any hitching or 
roughness in his gait, or if he is in any way out of bal- 
ance, he is not developing anything but faulty action, 
and can certainly not develop speed. Let it be under- 
stood at the outset that if you can get your horse in a 
hitching and laboring way over a quarter in thirty-five 
seconds, antl your neighbor's colt can trot it in forty 



218 TKAINING THE TROTTING HOUSE. 

seconds, square and smooth, his footfalls markino' time 
as truly as the tick of the most perfect chronometer, he 
is doing far better than you are, and in calculating on 
the basis of a quarter in thirt3'-five seconds you are 
only deceiving yourself. It is not what he can do in 
any irregular, jerky, scrambling way that you must 
judge by. It is lohat he can do right. 

Let me illustrate. There was a certain colt at Palo 
Alto that showed remarkably well in the paddock, but 
after we got him in harness we found that he could not 
show a trace of respectable speed. I drove him one day 
and found he could not trot a three-minute gait, do what 
I would with him. After vain and discouraging work I 
gave him up for that day, thinking that, perhaps, he 
was out of humor and sulky, and a little tired. The 
next day I tried him again, but with no better results. 
Then I was in a quandary, and whistled a tune while I 
thought it over. I knew he was a trotter in the 
miniature track, and it was just as clear that he was 
not one in harness. So I unhitched him and turned 
liim into the miniature track, and away he went as Avell 
as ever. A little study showed how he carried his 
head and how he balanced himself. I changed the 
check, harnessed him again, let his head free 
so that he could carry himself in his own wa}^ 
and that same day he showed me a quarter in 
better than forty seconds. In studying how he 
trotted without harness I "went back to first prin- 
ciples,'' and, " in this return to nature, found the 
little causes that produced such important results. 
I might have gone on experimenting until doomsday 
Avith weights and shoes and I could never have gotten 



AN UNBALANCED C(U/r. 219 

that colt right, for the reason that his head was 
checked out of its natural poise, and his whole carriage 
was unbalanced. AVhen you run fast or walk fast you 
carry your head, your arms, your body in a certain 
way, and if you are forced to carry your head higher 
or lower, or to one side, all you have to do is to try to 
get up speed in that position to appreciate what it may 
mean in a colt's action to check his head an inch or two 
out of its natural place. 

Therefore, before you take him on the track for the 
first time, it will be a good thing to adopt as a founda- 
tion principle to act upon throughout, that the natural 
balance and action must be preserved, and that the 
moment your colt begins to hitch or become unbalanced 
and irregular in his gait he is doing no good. Keep 
him going true, smooth and level, don't drive him 
faster than he can go squarely and he will develop 
speed if it is in him. " The matter depends not upon 
the doing, but upon the manner of its doing." 



220 TRAINING THE TROTTING liORSE. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

EIEST WORK IN HARNESS SHARP BRUSHES AVOID JOG- 
GING, SWEATING AND SCRAPING THE COLT MUST BE 

KEPT STRONG AND STOUT COLTS CANNOT ALL BE 

WORKED ALIKE — IMITATION — ALL DEPENDS ON THE 
trainer's fitness — AN OCCASIONAL LET-UP^" SPEED, 

SPEED, MORE SPEED," THE GREAT ESSENTIAL SHOES 

AND WEIGHTS EXPERIENCE WITH CHIMES AND CLAY. 

In tracing- our colt's career we have now reached 
the point where he is going clever in single harness 
and ready to hitch up for his first lesson on the regular 
track, lie has as yet no shoes in front, but is shod be- 
hind. Put on all the boots that are necessary — all that 
caution and safety demand. Colts need practically no 
jogging, yearlings certainly none whatever. Of course 
no colt or horse should be worked soon after a meal ; 
and you will find the yearling, always a trifle nervous, 
ready to work as soon as you get him on the track. 
Start him up at a good, fast jog for about 150 to 200- 
yards. Tlien turn slowly, giving him time to get his 
breath, and let him brush back a little faster. After 
going about the same distance, stop again, turning 
slowly, and send him back again, this time carrying 
him right up to his clip at some point of the brush, 
preferably near the end of it. In all his work, especi- 
ally when the brushes are sharp, be careful to let him 



KARLY WORK. 221 

get his wind at each turn, and after this shai'p brush 
that I have just described give him a httle longer to 
breathe than you did before. Now straighten him out 
and brush him up the stretch again about the same dis- 
tance, going up to his chp about the hist of it, and that 
will be enougli work for that day. Take him in, where 
no cold draft can blow on him, and take off the harness 
and boots, give him a swallow or two of water, rub 
him off lightly, and let the boy walk him a little, then 
juit him in his box and leave him undisturbed, so that 
he can lay down, as a colt youngster will, and rest. 

As I have said, young colts require little jogging and 
no sweating or scraping. Young animals do not take 
on fat internally like matured ones, and there is in fact 
no superfluous flesh in this rapidly growing period. 
The colt requires not to be reduced, but rather to be 
made stouter and stronger. Pliysicing, sweating and 
scraping are just the things no colt can take and 
thrive. It stops his growth and muscular development 
to strip him of his flesh, for the growing body, the 
maturing muscle and bone, need that nourishment 
which is only afforded in a condition of marked thrifti- 
ness. Only in this condition will the colt be in good 
fettle and spirit, and capable of taking his work with 
relish and being beneflted by it. It therelore beliooves 
the trainer to watch constantly that the colt does not 
"go back" in condition, for this loss of condition may 
be at flrst almost imperceptible. It is all the better if 
the colt carries a fair degree of flesh, which will not 
be of the "soft" kind with the work here prescribed. 
Keep him in good, vigorous condition, so that he will 
perspire freely with work, but leave heavy blankets, 
hoods, sweating and scraping alone. 



222 TRAINING THE TROTTING IloRSE. 

The amount of work will, of course, differ with 
different colts. No two can be worked exactly alike, 
and here will come in play the natural fitness of the 
trainer. If he is by nature fitted for a trainer, his own 
perceptions, or we might sa}^ his instinct, will teach 
him how to discriminate between different colts — to 
see where one requires to be handled a little differently 
from another, whether by reason of size, temper, or 
natural capacity. The trouble with the great majority 
of men who handle trotting-horses is that they are not 
thinkers but imitators. They saw Dan Mace or Budd. 
Doble or John Splan do something with a certain 
horse, and they go right home and do it with their 
horses, under the impression that because a famous 
driver does it with one horse it is necessarily just the 
thing" for all horses. ISTomere imitator can do anything 
intelligently, much less train horses, because to work 
intelligently he must understand the reason for every- 
thing he does. Doing a thing that you saw somebody 
else do without your knowing wh}' he did it is just 
about as wise as taking a certain sort of medicine 
because it is taken by somebody else, whose disease you 
do not know the nature of. There were never, proba- 
bly, two horses in the world to which full justice could be 
done by treating them exactly alike. No cast-iron rules 
can be laid down ; they must be taken as elastic enough 
to admit of modification to meet the requirements of 
thousands of different cases. So, while I am explain- 
ing in these chapters what we might call the average 
procedure at Palo Alto, defining the general principles 
and methods, and approximating as nearly as it can be 
approximated a course of training that can be advan- 



IMITATION. 223 

tageously followed, it must be remembered that all 
will, in the end, depend upon the judgment and fitness 
of the trainer who seeks to apply this system. Good 
tools never made a mechanic skillful ; college education 
never made a man brilliant and talented ; good train- 
ing never made a trotter of a colt that had not natural 
speed, and the best system of training in the world 
will not make a great trainer of any man who has not 
natural fitness for his business. No amount of instruc- 
tion and experience will make a good trainer of a man 
to whom nature has not given the qualities required in 
successfully and intelligently training horses. They 
may be called gifts of the eye and the hand, but 
they are more than that, for behind the well-directed 
eye and hand must be a cool, active and wcll-l)alanced 
brain. 

The first day's training in harness, which 1 have 
described in this chapter, should be adhered to without 
any increase for the first ten <hiys or so. From four to 
six brushes will be sufficient at first, but in say two 
weeks it can be increased a little. Don't increase the 
length of the brushes, but the number and speed of 
them, but this increase must be slow and gradual, 
according to the size and capacity of the colt, and the 
relisli he shows for the w^ork. 

It is a good plan to let the colt up for two or three 
days, every three or four weeks, for a run out and a 
rest. This will freshen him up, and these breaks in 
the monotony will, if he is not overdone or harshly 
worked, be an effective preventative of track sickness 
and staleness. After each little let up he will go to 
work again with more keenness and vim. Barring 



224 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

these rests, the colt's work will go on every day — 
Sundays excepted — presuming that he has been kept 
well and right. When he is two 3'ears old he will take 
more work,- but not a greatly increased distance. I am 
not ]irepared to say that the length of the brush 
should ever be increased to over a q-uarter of a mile. 
We are now, mark you, working our colt for speed. 
You will, no doubt, inquire how a horse can trot a race 
without being worked mil-e heats. You cannot cut 
much of a figure in a race without speed, and, after 
you have developed speed sufficient to go away from 
home with, it will be time enough to condition hnn to 
carry it. You must have the speed before you can win 
races. It is of no use to condition your horse to go 
mile heats, if you haven't first got the speed to beat 
somebody else. You will see, then, that the Palo Alto 
system proceeds on the logic of the author of the 
recipe already quoted for cooking the hare : " First 
catch your hare." We aim to first develop the speed, 
and after that to condition the horse to carry it. The 
merit of this system of training in short, sharp brushes 
lies in the fact that it is the quickest and most effective 
way of at once toning up and hardening the muscles, 
and bringing out a high rate of speed — of teaching the 
colt to trot fast. A noted racing-man, when asked 
what the first essential quality in a race-horse was, 
answered, " Speed," that the next was " speed," and, 
after that, " more speed." After you have 3'our colt 
going quarters in thirty-five seconds, or thirty-six 
seconds, or thirty-eight seconds, whenever you have 
had him show you enough speed and a big margin to 
spare to do what you are going to require of him, you 



FIRST HAVE THE SPEED. 225 

oan condition him for mile and repeat performances. 
You ma}' have him keyed up as hard as nails, but if 
your competitor can go a quarter in thirty-five seconds 
and you can go in thirty-seven, he will beat you all the 
■way, and do it easy, while you are straining and 
struo'g'linff, and g-ameness and condition won't save vou 
if the other horse is half-fit. He will be fresh after 
your colt is dead tired, and no matter how game your 
colt is he will have him a beaten horse in short order, 
simply because he can do with ease what you cannot 
do with your utmost effort. At the proper place I will 
write on the preparation of horses for races, and I 
here merel}'" want to caution you that a two-year-old 
colt requires very little drilling at mile heats. Sunol 
trotted in 2:18 as a two-year-old, and no other has ever 
trotted nearly so fast. Just where we are now — the 
spring when your colt is two — is a good time to glance 
back at the chapter where her training is described, 
and see how many mile-and-repeat workings she had. 
"When you have developed whatever measure of speed 
you believe sufficient to win the colt's engagement, 
you can fit him for the race as Sunol was fitted, but 
Tememher you mu8t first have the speed. Gameness and 
condition and all that won't prevail over a competitor 
that can throw dust in your eyes while going within 
himself. 

At the beginning of work on the regular track, I 
have thought it well to explain the pur})ose and 
effectiveness of the brush s\'stem ; for, just as 1 have 
remarked upon the necessity of knowing why you do 
things in a certain way, I have felt it my duty not 
only to tell how we handle colts, but " the why and 
the wherefore " as well. 



226 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

When, for this purpose, we digressed, we had just 
been giving the 3'oungster his first few days of work 
for speed in harness. It is now time to shoe him. 
Our two-year-olds at Palo Alto carry, as a rule, from 
eiffht to ten ounce shoes forw^ard, and four to five 
ounces behind. At another place I will discuss shoeing, 
and its kindred subject weighting, but will here remark 
that the least possible weight with which you can 
balance the colt is what you should carry. I mean 
weight in the shoe — not toe- weights. My experience 
has taught me to almost wholly banish toe-weights 
from my stable, and I certainly advise the reader if he 
be starting out to train 3'^oung trotters to have none of 
them. I coukl cite many cases to show^ the demoraliza- 
tion they work, but will content myself with reference 
to one striking instance. That was the case of Chimes, 
the brother of Bell Boy, Ilinda Rose and St. Bel. I 
worked him as a two-year-old with ten-ounce shoes 
forward. Witli that balancing he trotted for me a 
quarter in 0:35, and three-quarters at a 2:24 gait. 
After Mr. Hamlin got him he put toe- weights on him, 
and he seemed to at once lose his speed, and he has, as 
far as the jiublic know, never recovered it. He failed 
to trot for Mr. Hamlin faster than 2:30^ as a three- 
year-old. He showed me abilit}' to trot in 2:25 as a 
two-year-old, to make a very safe and conservative 
estimate. His is only one of many cases I could cite 
"where toe-weights worked incalculable harm. 

But putting superfluous weight on the toe is not the 
only way in which we sometimes go in exactly the 
wrong direction in tiying to strike the happy medium 
in balancing trotters. The mare Hinda Rose, whose 



TOE-WKKillTS AND HEAVY SHOES. 227 

history I have i^-iven, furnishes an illustration ; and I 
learned another lesson with the stallion Clay. "When 
he was a two-year-old I put on eight-ounce shoes, but 
in his work he acted as though he wanted more 
weight, seeming to go a little short in front, and not to 
handle his fore legs promptly enough. I then put on 
ten ounces, but that did not remedy the trouble, for in 
three or four days he seemed to require still more 
weight, and I kept on adding weight until he carried 
eighteen ounces on each fore foot. (That, remember, 
was some years ago.) Then he labored in the shoul- 
ders, and I reduced his shoes to eight ounces again, 
and kept him at a gait at which he could go squarely. 
In this rig he could show quarters right around thirty- 
five seconds in his two-year-old form. The following 
year he trotted some in public in eight-onnce shoes, 
and took a record of 2:34. After I went East with the 
stable in 1884, the driver who worked Clay, believing 
he needed more weight, increased his front shoes to 
fifteen ounces, and about two-thirds of the weight was 
at the toe. He did no good with this weight, and it 
caused him to strike his elbows. After my return 
from the East I took these shoes off, put on eight- 
ounce ones, and wnth little time to prepare gave him a 
record of 2:25 that falL The weight I put on in the 
first place was needless, and I have no doubt that had 
I from the outset worked him in light shoes and not 
asked him to go faster than he could go level he would 
have ultimately proved a better horse. 



228 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 



CHAPTER XX. 

WEIGHT IN THE SHOE — USE AND ABUSE THE LAST 

RESORT — WHEN WEIGHT IS NEEDED — REDUCING 

VALUE AND NECESSITY OF EARLY WORK — EARLY 
TRAINING NECESSARY FOR HIGHEST RESULTS AT 

MATURITY IN ACCORD WITH SCIENCE — THE ILL 

EFFECTS OF NEGLECTED EDUCATION A CASE IN 

POINT — A VALUABLE MARE RUINED WORK FEW 

MILES, IF ANY — THE MOUTH — CHECKING AND DRIV- 
ING THE COLT NOT TO IJE CONTROLLED BY MAIN 

STRENGTH — TO DRIVE WITH " A SILKEN THREAD " 

LIGHT HANDS NO BREAKING IF POSSIBLE — CATCH- 
ING THE WHIP SIDE PULLING. 

I HAVE sought, in the illustrations just related, to 
show that we are too a})t to jump to the conclusion 
that colts need weight when the difficulties that pre- 
sent themselves could be remedied without resorting 
to this artificial assistance. I need not enter into any 
aro'ument to shoAV that the ideal trotter will trot 
barefooted, needing no balancing other than what 
nature has given ; and that the use .of the shoe is 
simply to protect the foot. This is a self-evident 
truth, needing no elaboration. Eveiy additional ounce 
of weight has its detrimental influences — it may be a 
necessity, but none the less an evil because a necessary 
one. You will, therefore, endeavor to reduce weight, 
and do not, under any pretext, increase it until you 



WEKJHT. 229' 

are certain nothing else will remedy the difficulty you 
have encountered. It is a very nice tiling to know just 
when a horse wants more weight. You may fancy lie 
does not handle his fore legs promptly enough ; he may 
break, or single-foot if urged, wiiile, perhaps, you uuiy 
notice that he will go a little faster if you pull him a 
little, the weight on the rein slightly altering the 
balance. More weight in the shoe may be required, 
and may prove helpful. If you decide to put on 
weight, and it remedies the trouble, do not conclude 
that it will always be necessary to retain it. After a 
reasonable time begin to reduce it gradually until you 
get down, if possible, to eight or ten ounces. But in 
nine cases out of ten, where more weight is thought 
necessary, the real cause of the trouble is that you are 
asking the colt to go a little faster than he can. True, 
weight may, for the time, help his speed; but, on the 
other hand, if you keep working him at a rate at 
which he can go square and clean, his speed will natu- 
rally and gradually improve, and the final result will be 
better than if you had resorted to artificial appliances. 
I will, therefore, again say : Keep the colt going square 
and true ; do not be impatient, and if he develops 
roughness of gait, hitches, or becomes generally 
unbalanced, go back to a gait at which he can go level 
and seek to improve his speed by natural training 
before you experiment too much with his shoes. If 
you are doing pretty well in a plain shoe of reasonable 
weight — say eight to twelve ounces — be content ; if 
3^ou are carrying more than that allow the shoe to 
graduallv decrease in weight. By graduall}'^ decreas- 
ing I mean that wear will lighten it, and when you 



230 TRAINING THE TKOTTING HORSE. 

replace it by a new shoe, if the colt is going well, have 
the new shoe made, not the weight the old one was 
when it was new, but the weight it now is after being 
reduced by wear. All the 3^oung stars of 1889 — Sunol, 
Axtell, Lillian Wilkes, Margaret S. and Kegal Wilkes — 
carried light shoes. When horses were not born 
trotters, but were made to trot artificially, balancing 
by great weight was, in some cases, necessary — but 
now our youngsters are bred to trot, are foaled natu- 
rally-balanced trotters, and the nearer we keep to nature 
the better. Other things being equal, the horse that 
carries the least weight will stay better, go faster and 
remain sounder than the weight-carriers. It is a ])oint 
the importance of which cannot be well overrated, 
and now, when you are handling your two-year old, 
it is well to keep these facts in clear and constant 
view, 

I am sometimes asked if, in the case of colts that are 
not intended to start until they are three or four years 
old, it would not be better to let them run out as year- 
lings and two-year-olds, to grow up in their free and 
natural way, and take just what exercise they like. 
This is a very pretty theory, but it is not found true in 
practice. I have already referred to the benefits of 
early work, but just at the time of which we are now 
writing, when you are working the two-year-old, 
another word may be in place. You may not intend 
to start your colt early, and in reading these observa- 
tions on training you may think that Marvin is only 
writing for the benefit of men who want early records. 
That would be a wrong conclusion. I have already 
explained that the amount of work will vary according 



EARLY EDUCATION. 231 

io when you intend to start him, but even if you don't 
propose to do so until he is seven years old, to secure 
the best results you will find tliat work at an early ao^e 
will be necessary. As previously remarked, the colt 
grows better and harder under the athletic training we 
have recommended. The lungs will develop with the 
muscles, and even the legs will attain a harder, cleaner 
substance. I believe it to be a scientific truth that the 
physical development of animals is modified by the use 
or exercise to which they are subjected during the 
period of growth. The boy who practices writing 
early has the advantage over a man who starts in late 
in life in more than the purely mental ground. The 
muscles that "push" the pen grow to better answer 
that requirement than if they receive no training until 
their growth is done. The boy who aims to shine, say, 
as an acrobat, will reach a higher point if he begins 
his training young, for the physical structure will 
during growth accommodate itself to the training, 
those muscles most brought into play increasing in 
bulk as well as in strength and tone, until the ease and 
ileftness of the physical machine in a certain direction 
renders that order of exercise " a meclianical mode of 
life," or as we more commonly say it, second nature. 
Therefore it seems so clear to me that intelligently 
directed exercise, such as moderate training on the 
track, is superior to the impulsive, purposeless, and 
often violent exercise taken by a loose and untrained 
colt, that I cannot but wonder that there are those 
who do not see it. Some time ago Mr. S. A. Browne, 
the prominent Michigan breeder, who once owned 
Bell Boy, expressed, if I remember aright, the 



282 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

opinion tljat when the record of Maud S. was broken 
it Avoiild not be by a horse that beat the world's- 
record at two or three years old. I cannot agree with 
Mr. BroAvne on that point; but, even if his opinion 
were right, it would not be a point against early train- 
ing, but rather, against asking a great effort of an im- 
mature horse. If I owned a yearling that I knew had 
in him the making of a world-beater, and if I did not 
want to trot him in public until he was fully matured, 
I would work him from his yearling form up, and 
would feel sure that he would ultimately be a greater 
horse than if he was allowed to grow up loose and un- 
educated until four or five, years of age. Another fact 
is that horses in training are more carefully watched 
as regards health, and are generally under better hy- 
gienic conditions than those that grow up rough and 
untutored. Then again, with the latter, their tempers 
may develop in the wrong direction ; they are not used 
to control, and they resent it, becoming so strong- 
headed that they may be physically as well as men- 
tally ruined in breaking. A case in point : After 
Capt. Smith had gone a mile for me in 2:21 at four 
3?-ears old and the gelding Clay had shown great speed, 
I began to try to work a mare we had out of the same 
dam — Maid of Cla}^ At four years old this mare was 
unbroken, and we had to lariat her to catch her. She 
would kick, bite and fight whenever we tried to do 
anything with her ; but after long and patient work I 
got her to drive double and single pretty well, and she 
acted like a trotter. One day I took her to a tem- 
porary blacksmith-shop to have her shod. Between 
two posts there was fastened, about four and a half 



TEACH TIIEM YOUNG. 233 

feet from the ground, a piece of scantling, and in strug- 
gling against being shod she got beneath that bar and 
raised right up under it. We tried to get the scantling 
off and could not, but we finally succeeded in pulling 
her out. She promised to be the best of Maid of Clay's 
family, but from that day, although not crippled, she 
never was worth a dollar. Her heart was broken, her 
spirit, her courage and ambition all gone. She would 
never go up on the bit again, and she was, in short, a 
subdued, useless and spiritless mare, where, had she 
been trained young, she would have been docile and 
educated, without the loss of ambition and spirit. So, 
my friend, who may be training a two-3^ear-old, don't 
imagine, because you are not going to .-^tart him this 
year, that you are doing no good and might as well 
save yourself the trouble until the time for action 
comes. The work now is of more importance tlian at 
any other time, for you are laying safe and sure the 
foundation for the future, and if it is being well done 
3'ou will some day find that in giving what to some 
may have seemed premature ^vork 3^ou were " building 
better than you knew." There is a great lesson in the 
line : " Learn to labor and to w^ait." 

Beyond the instructions already given I need say 
little more about working the two-vear-old, as any 
average horseman will, after following through my 
remarks, be able to judge of how much work to give, 
and when to ease up temporarily. If you are going to 
start him in a race — and I advise you not to start 
unless you feel pretty sure that you have the sjieed to 
win — you can fit him for the race much on the plan 
pursued with Sunol. Do not give him too many miles, 



"234 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

and be very sparing in working him against the watch. 
Keep him in hard and stont condition, and don't trot 
the race until the race day. Further on I treat of pre- 
paring for races, and management in races, and while 
much remains to be said that is appHcable to two-year- 
old training, the order of our work will cover it all as 
we proceed further on. 

The first year in harness will have a great effect in 
many ways, and little mistakes now may have very 
momentous consequences hereafter, and in no way can 
more harm be done than by a little indiscretion with 
the colt's mouth. All you have to do is to check him 
up about three inches too far, and take a cast-iron grip 
on him while driving, to blight all his prospects in short 
order. You want to teach him so that he can be 
driven " by a silken thread " — driven with a light 
hand — and you will generally find that at first the colt 
with a loose check and with the lines lying almost 
loose on his back, will swing off at his own gait, 
whereas if you put weight on the bit, or check him up 
tight, he will be fighting it all the while, will be un- 
balanced in his gait, and be in no temper to trot. Let 
this ill-treatment be continued for a while, and your 
colt will have " a hard mouth," and will learn to pull, 
and to "hog on the bit." Sunol would have been a 
puller under any but the most careful treatment. 
"Whenever she showed an inclination to " lug " I would 
let her have her head, talk to her, and have her go 
along as easily as possible, without being hard held, 
and she gradually forgot to pull; but had I fought her 
with the bit she would have been ruined, A well 
trained colt will learn to rate about any gait you set 



don't " J5KKAK AND CATCH." 235 

him a-going at with a hghtly held rein. It is very 
essential to have him do this to train him to obey the 
voice, and jog easily without being held. After a 
horse begins to go fast, of course a little firmer gri]i is 
necessary to hold him safe and stead}' ; but at all times 
let it be your aim to put as little extra weight on the 
rein as possible. Here will come in play what we call 
"good hands," about which there is an indefinable 
something that cannot be imjmrted. A light, yet firm, 
an elastic, yet steady, hold on the rein is what is 
wanted ; but I can no more tell you how to do it than 
the painter can tell how to hold the brush for a master- 
stroke. It is a natural gift that does not seem capable 
of being acquired. 

Don't waste, or worse than waste, time in teaching 
the colt to " break arid catch." That is an idea that 
some men think the most important in training, but it 
is a pernicious one. You are teaching him to trot, not 
to " go as you please," and the great point is not to 
teach him to " break and catch" but to teach him not 
to break at all. If he does break, do not jerk him vio- 
lently, " snatch " him, or see-saw on one side and then 
the other. We have all seen horses that leave their 
feet, throw up their heads and let go of the bit alto- 
gether. This is the result of jerking his head. He 
throws up his head to get away from the bit ; he fears 
it, and hence cannot get into his balance and stride 
again. My plan is to give him a square pull back, 
and swing him -very slightly to one side, giving him 
a chance to catch in the cross stride. 

A few colts, even at this early age, are so dull and 
sluggish that a whip is often necessary to infuse ambi- 



236 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

tion into them ; but, while I always carry a whip, it is- 
more for ornament than use with youngsters. With a 
nervous, highly-organized colt it is seldom necessary, 
and its abuse is absolutely ruinous in results. How 
often you see a man ajjply the whip to a young colt 
when he breaks, yet that is something that a boy of 
ten years old should have too much sense to be guilty 
of. To frighten and punish the colt at the very time 
when he requires to be steadied and reassured, is cer- 
tainly not a sensible thing to do, and a man who 
will do it is not fit to get into a sulk}?-, especially 
behind a well-organized youngster of fine fiber. 

All these faults combined, or any one of them, may ' 
cause pulling, side pulling, or other "\nces of the head 
and mouth, with the numerous train of indirect results, 
such as spoiling the temper and the gait, causing the 
horse to become unsteady, hitching, etc. Pulling is a 
vice much to be dreaded, being generally incurable, 
and anything likel}' to encourage it should be carefully 
shunned. Care of the mouth is an important thing at 
this stage. See that the mouth is not sore, that the 
bit IS not hurting it — never use severe bits — and 
endeavor to keep it in the naturally sensitive and easy 
state. 

Side-pulling is a very disagreeable habit, and the 
cause can generally be found in the mouth. It may be 
caused by wolf-teeth (and the smaller the more painful 
they are), or before the colt has a full mouth, the gums 
may be swollen on one side of the lower jaw, between 
the molars and the incisors ; or the sharp edges of the 
grinders may come in contact with his cheeks, 
especially if he is jerked ; or the bit may be too long 



SIDE-PULLING. 287 

:and need washers to keep it from pulling through the 
mouth. There are various causes for side-pulling, 
which sometimes require care and much experience to 
locate. If you are not familiar with mouths, consult 
some one who is, and when the cause is found the 
remedy will be easily applied. In ordinary cases I 
have generally found wrapping the bit on one side 
■with chamois skin to be effectuaU 



238 TRAINING THE TKOTTING HORSE. 



CHAPTEE XXI. 

CLIMATIC CONDITIONS THE TRACK-WORK OF THE THREE- 
YEAR-OLD THE SPEED-MAKING BRUSHES — SPEED WINS 

RACES MANZANITA AND PATRON BRUSH AT DIFFER- 
ENT PLACES ON THE TRACK STOPPING AT SPOTS AND 

ITS REMEDY AMOUNT OF WORK GIVEN WORKING 

TWICE A DAY AVHEN NECESSARY ANOTHER CAUTION 

AGAINST OVERDOING IT A TIRED HORSE RIPE FOR 

BREAK-DOWN THE ERROR OF PERSISTENTLY DRIVING 

FAST MILES WORKING MATURE HORSES WORK DIF- 
FERS ONLY IN DEGREE — EXCESSIVE REDUCTION CON- 
DITION — PECULIARITIES TO BE STUDIED. 

The training of your colt will necessarily be affected 
by the climate in which you live. Our best time for 
work in California is in the fall and the winter-spring, 
barring the rainy season. Our summers are so tlry — • 
the grass burned up and the tracks hard — that it is a 
rather trying time on horses. The blood of a horse in 
training (eating as he does mainly food that is of a 
rather heating nature), as well as his legs and feet, is 
harder to keep just right in a dry summer than in the 
seasons when a feed of o-rass will reo-ulate and cool the 
stomach, and a Avalk in the dew will cool the legs and 
feet. 

In the East, and especiall}^ in the North, it is some- 
times difficult to give a horse sufficient exercise in win- 



SPEED-MAKING BRUSHES. 239 

ter, and all I need say on this point is: Take the best 
advantage yon can of yonr climate. If you have long 
stretches in the year when 3'^ou cannot drive for speed, 
you can at least, almost every day, exercise the hoi'se, 
whether it be over a snow-path or over winter roads. 
Aim to keep the horse in as near the good, hard condi- 
tion he would be in if work on the track were possible, 
as you can, and he will at least be Avell prepared for 
track-work when the season comes for speeding. 

The work of the three-year-old will be in great 
measure a repetition of that given the two-year-old, 
though he will now be given a little more of it, the 
main object being to keep him speedy. The brushes 
should not be very much lengthened, but he should go 
at a higher rate of course, though in your anxiety to 
have him do this do not "drive him over himself," as 
we say in stable parlance, or force him off his gait. I 
know if you are schooled in the ordinary ideas of 
training you will be impatient with my methods, lie 
shows great speed for you at a )rush, and you are 
anxious to drive him miles. You will not be likely to 
dispute the fact that the brush system — going a short 
distance at a high rate, rather than a long distance at 
a slow rate — develops muscle, lung power, speed and 
hardiness of the legs quickly ; but, all the same, you 
want to go miles against the watch for the satisfaction 
of seeing what he can do. This is a tendency to be 
guarded against. There are miles enough ahead to be 
trotted and time enough to trot them in. You can go 
a mile at a certain rate, but you must go a fast quarter 
before you can go a fast mile. So first concentrate all 
your attention on getting the high speeding capacity 



2J:0 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

developed ; after you can go fast for a quarter the fast 
mile will come all right. Speed makes ganieuess. The 
horse that goes within his Hiiiit will always outlast the 
horse that is on his tip-toes from wire to wire. The 
case of Manzanita and Patron at St. Louis in 1886 is in 
point. She could trot a quarter that day, beyond 
doubt, better than thirt3^-two seconds — slie could cer- 
tainly have gone to the half close to 1:05. Going to 
the half in 1:08 so distressed Patron that he was a 
quickly beaten horse. He could not live with her that 
day any distance from "a panel of fence" to five miles, 
simply because she could trot hini to a standstill with- 
out being all strung out, and each heat in the race was 
easy work for her, while he was driven out to the last 
incii. 

It is not well to brush the horse always over the 
same ground, for he will then learn to stop at certain 
places on the track. Colts are quick of perception and 
retentive in memory, and when they find out they 
always start at one place and stop at one place they 
are apt to do it of themselves. In such cases the 
remedy is easy. When you find a colt getting into the 
habit of wanting to stop, or slacken speed at a certain 
place, make it a point to send him past that point at a 
lively gait. You can easily do this by shifting your 
brushing ground — sometimes working on one side of the 
track, sometimes on another, and occasionally giving 
him a breather around the turn and through the 
stretcii. Another annoying little habit a colt is apt to 
get into is to try to turn out every time he passes the 
gate leading off the track. The same principle Avill 
cure him of this. When speeding never pull up just 



AMOUNT OF WORK. 24:1 

at that point. Brush past it, down or up the stretch, 
then turn and walk or jog back. A httle tact, in this 
resjject, will break your colt of all inclination to stop 
or swerve while speeding, as he will know of no par- 
ticular place where he is habitually stop])ed. 

You began with the yearling going first about a 
furlong, and working him that distance four or five 
times. Gradually you increased it, until in two or 
three months you would give him six or seven brushes, 
of about 300 yards, going sharp at some point in each. 
Then, as he grew stronger, larger, stouter, and showed 
more speed, you increased tiie work a little more, 
giving the two-year-old about three-eighth brushes ; and 
now in his three-year-old form, all being well, you can 
work him at from three-eighths to one-fourth mile 
brushes, never, however, fully stringing him out for a 
whole quarter, but sending him at high pitch for part 
of the distance. Occasionally he can be moved w^ell 
within himself for a half-mile. When you want to do 
this, after you have given him nearly enough — and 
this, of course, varies with different horses — turn him 
and mak-e the last brush about a half-mile, doing the 
most of the distance Avell within himself, and going 
the last furlong ]:)retty nearlv as fast as he can. You 
will soon learn to judge when a horse has sufficient 
work. They show it by " acting tired," and losing the 
eagerness to go which you will notice when you first 
bring him out. At the first sign of this, go to the 
birn. 

Tiie three-year-old wants ver}^ little jogging. Its 
only purpose is to have him empty his stomach, Avarm 
him, and generally " loosen him up." Although many 



242 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

trainers seem to think differently, there is no develop- 
ment in jogging. Its only object is to get the horse 
ready to trot — a sort of preliminary exercise to gradu- 
ally warm up the blood', imlimber the joints, and get 
the whole organization pitched to the point of action. 

I have said once or twice already that a 3'oung horse 
can be worked twice a dav to advantage if it is neces- 
sary to start him young, or give him an earl}' prepara- 
tion. A youngster will tire slightly, lay down and 
rest, and be in a few hours refreshed, where an old 
horse will not rest thoroughly until night. So, until a 
colt is two 3'ears old you can work him twice a day, if 
necessary, with good results. The oftener he gets his 
work the quicker he will learn. Two short lessons are 
better than one long one. This semi-daily work may 
likewise be given older horses until they can trot fast 
enough to make work severe. You will appreciate the 
fact that the faster a horse goes the more work he will 
take in a certain time. So when your horse increases 
to a high rate of speed you wall not keep him on the 
track so long as when he works slower. For instance, 
if your three-year-old can trot quarters in thirty-live or 
thirty-six seconds, you take him out, warm him, and 
when ready you give him five or six brushes fast, 
finishing each brush strong. If you will calculate a 
moment you will see that you have given him really 
more work and faster work, than if you had worked 
him a mile, and repeat, and he has been taught to go 
at a higher rate. 

The trouble you will find it very hard to fight 
against will be, let me say again, the tendency to give 
the colt too much. You will like to see him go another 



don't give the colt too much. 243 

brush and when he is going fast and true, you will hate 
to stop hiin. So the virtue of patience will often need 
to come into play. Development ceases, you must re- 
member, when you get out the last link. The l)rush 
should never extend beyond the point where you do 
not believe he can improve with the next step. When 
a horse tires he, in a great measure, loses control of his 
legs and feet, and if weighted the trouble is aggra- 
vated, lie breaks, he falters in his gait, strikes him- 
self, goes to hitching, hobbling — anything to rest 
himself — and as a natural consequence of this "work 
goes back in speed, and loses precision in liis action. 
And, moreover, a thoroughly tired horse is ripe for a 
break-doAvn. "We will suppose that you believe that if 
driven out, your horse can trot a mile in 2:20, and to 
satisfy 3^ourself you start to do it. You feel him tiring 
at the seventh-eighth pole, but you want to finish that 
mile, and so hustle him along. In that last eighth the 
strain on his muscles tells, they begin to relax, the 
stroke is not so bold, true and far, and every sinew and 
cord is strained to its utmost, and yet he is asked to 
do more. He is not trotting now on his own courage, 
naturally and with marked, precise stroke, but is 
striving on mechanically, and is in tlie most favorable 
condition for a break-down. Did you ever notice 
how often race-horses break down in the home-stretch ? 
It is the last straw — the call upon a weary horse to 
respond — that tests most severely tendon and carti- 
lage. So I very strongly desire to impress upon you 
the importance of alwa3's working miles and half- 
miles — when you work that distance at all — well 
Avithin the colt's limits. In treating of preparation for 



244 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

races I will be more specific on this, but here, again, 
wish to \n\t the trainer on guard. I have driven a 
three-year-old, in a race in 2:22, that never trotted a 
mile in 2:30 before. If you have the speed, and the 
colt is in good condition, he will trot you a good mile 
when asked, if driven and rated with fair judgment. 
Do not exhaust the youngster in moonlight trials — 
save the energy you would thus expend until race-day. 
You may want it. I consider there is no error more 
common and more grievous than the belief that the 
way to condition a horse for a race is to drive 
him and repeat him day after day right up close 
to his limit. You will find that when you begin to 
work the colt miles, preparatory to a race, he will lose 
some of his speed, even with the most careful working. 
"With the fast mile-and-repeat business, as usually car- 
ried out, he cannot but lose his speed to a great degree. 
On race-day you want all the speed you can command, 
and you can have that and have the ability to go fast 
miles too by working on the moderate plan outlined in 
the chapters on Siinol, and on preparation for races in 
this book. 

Though my object in writing this book is chiefly to 
deal with the training of young horses, that training 
differs only in degree from the manner in which, in 
my estimation, older horses should be worked. Sup- 
pose a man brings you a five-year-old horse to work for 
speed — a regular green one — soft and out of shape. 
You cannot start him up right away, but after 
getting his feet in shape, shod and " hung " right, 
you need not waste all summer in slow jogging before 
you do anything. Horses differ so in temperament 



WORKING OFF FLESH. 245 

that it takes some time to know each one. Some are 
hearty eaters with appetites that nothing will affect, 
and these of course take more work than the more 
delicate kind. I do not believe in getting flesh off a 
horse with sweat-blankets and hoods. "Work it " off in 
the natural "way. After you have got your horse into 
pretty good driving shape, with a fair share of flesh of 
the bard variety, he should be given as great a proj)or 
tion of his work in fast brushes as possible. After you 
have driven him until he is shaped up to take fast work 
without distress, you have got to a point beyond which 
I can give little more instruction than I have already 
given. The principle of the work for colts and mature 
horses is the same essentially. It differs only in degree. 
To prepare a green horse for work needs only a little 
average horse-sense — plentj^ of exercise, careful groom- 
ing and judicious feeding. Some men act on the prin- 
ciple that a horse must be as poor as a scare-crow 
before he is in condition, and some will even resort to 
ph^^sic to get flesh off. That is an erroneous idea, and 
the use of physic is simply unpardonable as long as a 
horse is well. It Aveakens and reduces a horse, which 
you do not want to do. The object is to keep him 
strong, but to Avork off superfluous flesh to get him in 
as nearly perfect healthy athletic condition as possible. 
Strength, vigor and energy do not stay by many horses 
Avhose ribs can be counted far off. After a horse ap- 
proaches maturity he lays on internal fat, as all animals 
do, and in that condition strong, fast exercise distresses 
him, his Avind being "thick" and "short." All race- 
horse men Avill tell you that some horses "run big" 
and others "run fine" — that is, that some are at their 



246 TKAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

best when rather stouter than what on the average is 
regarded as perfect condition, while others show the 
highest form when trained pretty " fine" — but the lat- 
ter are in the minority. That some horses are at their 
best when very fine is true beyond question; but I 
know that in the great majority of cases a horse, to be 
in the pink of condition, must carry a quite fair degree 
of flesh — a good smooth coating over the ribs, not feel- 
ing gross and thick to the hand, but amply covering 
the bones. The hair should be soft and glossy, the 
coat smooth and velvety to the touch, never harsh and 
dried up, and the horse should perspire freely a clear 
sweat. But to describe condition is like trying to tell 
a man how to drive. You cannot do it. You can help, 
but his own intuition must be his greatest teacher in 
almost every point of the trainer's art. There is an 
old Spanish proverb which I have seen lately quoted 
with an apt application: "It is the eye of the master 
that fattens the horse." It is the eye of the trainer 
that makes him " fit." 

The study of the peculiarities of your pupils, to 
which I referred, in jmssing a moment ago, is a most 
important part of the trainer's business. As the writer 
from whom I have just quoted very pro]:>erly says : 
" Horses, like men, have idiosyncrasies of mind and 
body; like men, they require humoring, and cannot 
safely be treated as machines (which is too often done), 
and what is termed tact must be exercised with both. 
The progress of training must be gradual and pro- 
gressive — never standing still. Inaction means deteri- 
oration." When a trainer and a horse get at cross- 
purposes with each other the}^ had better part com- 



CARE AND KEEPING. 247 

pany, N'either one can do himself justice while he 
is fio'htino: tiie other, and the divided house will come 
to o;rief. Work to be of any benefit will be taken in 
good temper on both sides. So the ideal trainer must 
not onl}^ have the faculties of observation, and the 
penetrativeness to discover the horse's peculiarities of 
nature, but he must liave the elastic tact to accom- 
modate himself to them. 

I have now explained, at some length, the principles 
of our educational track work, and have indicated how 
a colt may be trained from infancy until he is a horse 
read}'- for the finishing touches in preparation for the 
fray. It would be very pleasant for the writer and 
the reader if a book could be written that, like a 
cookery recipe, tells you all at once how to do every 
thing so that you can begin work when you begin 
reading, and do the job according to directions as you 
read on. But there are so man}^ things that have to 
be done in their order every day, in horse training, 
that all the strings cannot be threaded at once. So, 
before we take up the preparation of the colt for races, 
and his management in them, we will leave the track 
and go to the barn, where it will be in order to give 
some attention to his care and keeping. 



24C TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

STABLES AND STABLING PALATIAL STABLES NOT NECES- 
SARY THE PRIME ESSENTIALS CLEANLINESS, AIR AND 

LIGHT LARGE AND SMALL BARNS ADVANTAGES 

OF THE LATTER ROOMY BOXES FLOORING CLAY 

FLOORS — BEDDING— FEEDING CRACKED AND GROUND 

FOOD — BRAN IMPORTANCE OF GOOD QUALITY OF 

FOOD WATER CALIFORNIA CLIMATE AND GRASSES. 

The question of stabling is one of very great import- 
ance, but it is erroneous to suppose that a man needs 
to be a millionaire to properly stable his horses. Some 
of the farms in the United States have stables that are 
palaces, where liberality is seen to run into extrava- 
gance and practical comfort is forgotten in the chase 
of elegance. But as a general rule, for the purposes of 
training, I would not exchange the single story " shed 
stables " at Palo Alto for the mammoth barns where 
the light falls through stained glass windows upon 
polished woods, gilded iron, and brass. If I were asked 
to put in few words the requirements to be met in 
stabling I would say: Have ample room, scrupulous 
cleanliness, fresh air and abundant light. We have 
one great barn at Palo Alto— the largest and most 
expensive building on the farm — where three or four 
of the assistant trainers have their "strings," and I 
can say that the proportion of horses that go wrong in 



LOCATION OF STABLES. 24i> 

that barn is larger than in our long " shed " stables, 
where every box is independent. This barn is built 
on the usual plan — divided by two wide transverse 
aisles crossing each other in the center of the building, 
the boxes opening into them. The boxes are boarded 
up to the usual height, then divided by open work, and 
the space and shafts above are ample for perfect 
ventilation. But from the very nature of barns of this 
character there are always drafts, and you cannot 
regulate the air and temperature of each box. In the 
rows of single-story stables, where each box is a com- 
plete section, with its own door and window, you can 
regulate it to suit each horse just according as you 
wish to give him air, or protect him from drafts after 
work, etc. Then, again, tliere is greater safety, as eacli 
box is completelv divided from its neighbors. Disease 
is not so apt to spread, and in case of fire you have a 
better chance to save horses, I would for many 
reasons rather have two or more small detached barns 
than one. very large one. 

As far as location goes I would only say : Have 3"our 
stables convenient to the track, and on high, dry 
ground. It is better that they should face the south. 
When, as in so great a proportion of our stabling at 
Palo Alto, the boxes have independent doors opening 
to the outside world, it will be more pleasant to have a 
southern exposure, expecially in lands less favored 
with sunny weather than California. We have half- 
doors, and it will please you to notice, how on a fine 
afternoon, the horse likes to stand by his door, and 
with his head and neck protruding rejoice in the pure, 
sweet air, and watch all that is o'oino- on. Have a 



250 TRAINING THK TROTTING HORSE. 

Teranda of liberal width to shade the box-door from 
the scorching heat of a summer sun, and to pi-otect it 
from the rain. 

As to ventilation and light, have it in purity and 
abundance. Foul air, as you know, rises, so that you 
will provide for its escape near the top of the box, 
either by an air shaft, or by ventilators ; and the 
windows should be set pretty high, so tiiat the air will 
not necessarily blow on the horses' body, A windo\v 
swinging open from the top will well serve this ])ur- 
pose. There is notliing worse than a dark stable. 
Air, light, and cleanliness are absolutely essential to 
keep a horse in good health. They are cheap com- 
modities and you can have them in plenty, 

I like large, roomy boxes. A good size is 12x14, but 
14x16 is better. It admits of free and natural move- 
ment ; the horse does not feel pent-up and imprisoned, 
and it is certainly more conducive to health than 
smaller qnarters. 

As to what is the most desirable flooring is a much 
discussed question. An absolutely perfect plan for 
flooring and littering has 3'et to be devised. In a floor 
we seek durability, with economy, cleanliness, and sub- 
stance healtliful for the feet. For the perfect bedding 
we should have something soft and elastic, cleanly, and 
non-eatable. The advocates of peat-moss claim these 
virtues for it, but, as I have not had experience with 
it, I cannot speak with confidence concerning it. Some 
writers advocate cemented floors of bricks, tiles, or 
even stone, but I would not think of having a horse 
stand on such a hard floor. Imagine a horse brought 
in after a race, his feet tired and hot, compelled to 



CLKANI.INKS.S. 251 

stand on bricks on flagstones. Many favor boarded 
floors, and much can be said in their favor on the score 
of cleanliness. If you lay such a floor have a little 
slope in it to carry the liquid excrement down to the 
drainint;- gutter, but the slope must be very slight 
indeed, so that the departure from the true level will 
not be perceptible to the horse. I have had experience 
with several kinds of flooring, and I am free to say I 
like a ground floor best. Some object that the earthen 
floor gets saturated with excretions, and it is difficult 
to keep clean. I have not found it so. 1 use lime 
liberally — sometimes chloride of lime. With careful 
and regular cleaning, and liming, the box can be kept 
perfectly clean and the air free from the health-destroy- 
ing ammonia that pervades wet and imperfectly 
cleaned and ventilated stables. For bedding I like rye- 
straw, and plenty of it. As to the details of stabling 
I need not sj^eak, as every man " must cut the garment 
according to the cloth," and arrange his ])lans accord- 
ing to the size of his stable and the demands upon 
it. Every good horseman is orderly. He has " a place 
for everything and everything in its place," and the 
harness-room of a well-ordered stable should be kept 
as neat looking as a city harness-shop. 

With all that has been written on feeding, the public 
ought to know it all, but still the writers write. After 
all we have not got beyond the simple facts that the 
horse's natural food is grass, hay and oats ; that he 
should be fed and watered regularly with healthy solid 
and fluid, and that the object to be kept in view in 
feeding is to strengthen and nourish the body and keep 
it healthy. These are the elementary principles 
involved in all discussions on feedins:. 



252 TKAINING THE TKOTTING HORSE. 

I have already spoken of feediiif^ youngsters, and 
have expressed the belief that they cannot be toO' 
liberally fed in their first two years of life, especially 
if being worked. I have had very satisfactory results 
with colts by feeding ground oats and steamed ground 
oats and barley. But botli with colts and horses good 
grass and hay is essential to perfect health. 

I iiave said to give the colts all they can eat up 
clean, but it is not so easy to fix the quantity with 
horses. Horses differ in the amount of food they do 
best with, just as they differ in the amount of work 
they require. No absolute rule can be laid down. One 
horse may keep right almost on hay alone, while an- 
other will require ten or twelve quarts of oats a day in 
addition to keep liim right. The only rule I can formu- 
late is to give the horse in training all that is necessary 
to keep him stout and strong. A horse, to be in ])roi)ep 
track condition, will carry a certain fair amount of 
flesh, andMf you reduce him below that he will become 
weakened. 

I am awai'e that some horsemen do not believe in 
feeding cracked or ground food, but my experience 
convinces me that a limited proportion of it is bene- 
ficial in all cases and quite essential in some. Horses 
that are inclined to bolt their oats and horses in whose 
(hing is observed whole grains will, for obvious reasons, 
get more nourishment from broken than from whole 
grain. Unmasticated food can afford little nourish- 
ment, and when a horse will bolt his oats without 
masticating it he should be given it in the broken 
form. 

A word as to bran. I once gave it up altogether,. 



GOOD FOOD ESSENTIAL. 253 

a,nd substituted boiled oats, with a little oil-meal in it, 
for horses tiiat did not sweat out freely and scrape 
well. However, for the past few years 1 have used 
considerable bran with good results. Good, clean 
bran, well-scalded, may be used judiciously to great ad- 
vantage where a horse's bowels seem to need a little 
loosening. 

Quality is the great essential in food. The horse's 
stomach is small, comparatively speaking, and it fol- 
lows that he will not thrive on food the nourishment 
in which is a small percentage in ratio to the bulk. 
All food, then, should be clean and free from dust and 
must, as well as being good in itself, of whatever 
variety. The most nutritive food for horses in train- 
ing, as I have said, are oats, hay and grass, and no 
other is ever necessary or advisable as food. Some- 
times, however, a little feed of parsnips or carrots will 
tempt a horse whose appetite is not on edge to eat, 
and they have a cooUng and regulating effect on the 
stomach. 

See to it then that the hay and oats are sound and 
healthy, and of the best quality obtainable. You 
cannot save a cent by buying inferior food because it 
is cheap. That is false economy. The oats sliould l)e 
dry and sound, the grains full and i)lump, and be care- 
fully cleaned before fed. Of hay there are legions of 
varieties, differing with climate, but every novice knows 
good, clean, sweet hay when he sees it. 

The importance of good water is as great as of good 
food, and every one who has had any experience in 
horse-keeping well knows that a change in water is 
generally resented by the horse, and, therefore, the 



254 TRAINING THE TROTTING HoKSE. 

best results will follow the use of not only pure water, 
but the same wa.ter all the time if possible. I have 
observed that a horse does best with his home water. 
He acquires a taste for it, and is quick to detect the 
difference of the water he is offered away from home. 
It may seem the same to the trainer, ma}' be chemi- 
cally the same, but the horse will detect a difference. 
This only illustrates one of the thousand little influ- 
ences that may interfere with the trainer's work. The 
water should be of average temperature, and never 
given when very cold. 

Eeferring to the quality of food, and the influence of 
climate, a little digression may be pardoned in order 
to speak of our California advantages and disadvan- 
tages in training and keeping horses. 

First let me declare briefly that the climatic advan- 
tages of California are much exaggerated by many. 
"We can grow colts more rapidly than any other sec- 
tion, for they are never chilled, never feel the stunting 
influence of wintry skies, but live in a land of warmth 
and sunshine. The usual time of foaling in California 
is about the most favorable of the year, when the 
grasses are at their best, and the youngster gets a 
start in life which sends him right along. Neverthe- 
less, I believe I can go to Kentucky and have better 
results in the end, in spite of the fact that many of the 
Eastern people attribute all our success to climate. My 
horses have generally been better in the East in 
summer than at home. Our winters are superb — 
barring the rainy season — for training, but the draw- 
back comes in the dry, parching summer, when the 
grass, in a great part of the State, is dried up. It is 



CALIFORNIA CLIMATE. 255 

then difficult to keep the system of the horse in train- 
ing right. The blood becomes heated, and the whole 
organization in a condition in which so slight a thing 
as a " hit " or brush may cause a break-down. The 
feet become dried, and, tliough some theorists believe 
that a liorse's feet should be allowed to dry uj) and 
contract, I have found my horses go lame whenever 
they were allowed to drift into that condition. I have 
known good trainers to start out in the spring in Cali- 
fornia with large stables of horses fit and well, and 
have them all go wrong. Our tracks are hard and 
flinty, and this, in addition to the natural and obvious 
truth that when the system is feverish and disordered, 
it is unable to throw off even slight troubles, accounts 
for the fact that a larger percentage of horses "go 
wrong" in California, in summer, than anywhere else. 
Our greatest advantage here is that we can work 
longer, and work at any season — but for that very 
reason many horese are overworked. I have no desire 
to underestimate the natural advantages of this beauti- 
ful State, but I object to all the credit for what we 
have done — which is mainly due to the blood we have, 
and our methods of training — being given to " climate." 
"With the same material I could do at least as well 
in the East ; and if I owned Electioneer and thirty 
or forty selected mares, and wished to breed and 
train horses to break all records, I would locate in 
Kentucky or Tennessee in preference to California for 
that purpose. 

With regard to our grasses we have no advantage 
over the sections I have named. Alfalfa I have not 
had a very wide experience with, and such as I have 



256 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

has not been very satisfactory. It does very well for 
brood-mares and youngsters ; but it is a washy grass 
and affects the kidneys of horses in training. At least 
such has been my experience. Alfierilla, commonly 
called "filaree" is a rank-growing grass that horses 
are very fond of, and that I consider far preferable to 
alfalfa for turf horses. The natural wild-oat of Cali- 
fornia provides excellent forage, and the animals take 
much to burr-clover after it is ripe and drv. The 
natural herbs of California afford foi'age of the richest 
and most nutritious kind, and for ordinary horse ranch- 
ino- no countrv can rival it — but for breeding and train- 
ing horses for the turf I am somewhat skeptical as to 
our advantages over " the blue-grass region." 



PROGKAMME. 257 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE DAILY PROGKAMME WITH A HORSE IN TRAINING — THE 

MORNING MEAL AND EXERCISE CARING FOR HIM 

AFTER WORK RUBBING, BLANKETING AND BANDAG- 
ING TEMPERATURE OF STABLES CLOTHING MUZ- 
ZLES HOODS — GOOD MEN FOR RUBBERS BOOTS 

SOME SPECIALLY GOOD PATTERNS OF BOOTS TOE- 
WEIGHTS SELDOM NECESSARY AND MUCH ABUSED 

THE PERFECT TROTTER WILL NOT WEAR THEM. 

Now LET US briefly outline the daih' programme 
with a horse that is taking strong work. 

I make it a rule to give horses in work three meals 
a day. It is a very good plan to keej) a bucket of 
water in the box over night; but if this is not done, 
give him a drink the first thing in the morning. Then 
feed him two or three quarts of oats, according to 
what sort of a feeder he is, and no water for at least 
two hours after feeding. By this time the sun, we 
will suppose, has got well up, and the morning is clear 
and bright. After he has eaten iiis breakfast, he is to 
be nicely cleaned off, legs rubbed, feet cleaned out, and 
if possible given a Avalk in the dew. Now we will 
hitch him up, and give him a gentle jog of a few miles, 
after which we bring him in, unharness him, and as a 
rule bandage his legs. Now he is walked a while, 
then the bandages removed and his legs hand-rubbed, 



258 TRAINING THE TKOTTING IIOKSE. 

and rebancla^ed if he is being given lots of work. 
After he is well rubbed out, his feet washe^, and he is 
walked in a light sheet until quite dry, he is " done up" 
for the morning. It is not well to keep him tied up 
longer than is necessary for it is irritating and annoy- 
ing to the horse, and gives him no chance to rest, I 
Avould never tie up a colt, except when he is being 
cleaned or harnessed. It is harder on him to stand for 
two hours w^th his head tied up than to take his track 
work, and the incident fretting and worrying is 
injurious. 

After a reasonable time we are ready to work him^ 
and on the track we give him his work for speed in the 
manner described at other places. After he has taken, 
his work we bring him in, give him a few "swallows" 
of Avater, remove the harness, throw on the blanket 
and then take off his boots. The next thing in order 
is to scrape him off lightly, taking no moi-e time than 
is necessary. It requires care and judgment here, for 
while you must not let a draft blow on him, or 
allow him to get cold, if you keep him too warm he 
will scrape a sectmd time, which is undesirable. Clothes 
enough to prevent taking cold is all that is required. 

I have noticed horses too heavily clothed after work 
seem to get heated through and through and show dis- 
tress by panting. 

After the scrape a body- wash should be applied. 
The following I have found very good : 

Compound soap liniment. '. 16 ounces, 

Licjuid anuiionia 2 ounces. 

Tincture cantbarides 2 ounces. 

Tincture opium 2 ounces. 



STABLE CARE. 259 

^fix, and add about two ounces of this preparation 
to one pint of water and one pint of Pond's Extract 
of Witchhazel. This should be quickly poured and 
rubbed over the loins and muscles of the shoulders, 
after which the legs are bandaged, and he is clotiied 
in a blanket and usually a light hood, though if the 
weather be fine and warm the latter is not necessary. 
Now walk hiin slowly for about twenty to twenty-five 
minutes, letting him stop occasionally if he wants to. 
AVhen he is nearly dry take him in and rub him out. 
Avoid any more rubbing than is necessary, and have it 
lightlv done. Hard rubbing irritates tiie horse, and in 
high ti-aining condition is indeed painful. The prac- 
tice of throwing heavy clothing over the loins is one I 
cannot approve of. With a sound horse it is needless, 
and indeed I think has a hurtful tendency. 

As above directed, the legs are to be bandaged 
whenever the harness and boots are removed, and 
the lotion applied. To put on a bandage right is 
quite a nice thing. A great many in bandaging the 
legs leave the heels or under part of the ankles ex- 
posed. Xow, the lower part of the ankle needs the 
support furnished by the bandage just as much as the 
u]iper portion of the joint and leg. The object of the 
Inindage is to "brace" the ankle and tendon until the}^ 
are thoroughly rested after the strain of fast work. 
The bandage should be wrapped well doAvn around 
and under the fetlock. The bandage should be set 
moderately tight and should be left on from one to 
two hours. 

Now you have him dry, he has been brushed and 
cleaned thoroughly, and is ready for dinner. Give him 



260 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

n moderate drink and the usual two or three quarts of 
oats, with a fair feed of sweet, good hay, and let him 
eat and digest his dinner as best pleases him. 

After dinner the rubber will have the harness, boots, 
sulky, etc., to attend to, and a good boy will take pains 
to keep these always cleaned and in good shape, for 
this is a very important factor in their preservation 
and wear, as well as in their direct bearing on the 
hoXse's work. After these details have been attended 
to, the horse is given a walk and a little grass ; then 
the box is cleaned out, the horse again rubbed off, his 
feet attended to (to which I refer below), fresh bedding 
jnit in and his regular clothes put on, and he is all 
through with for the day, excepting his supper. 

Writing here in California, where we never have any 
trouble in keeping our horses warm enough in winter, 
perhaps I have neglected, in discussing the conditions 
sought in stabling, to refer to this phase of horse keep- 
ing that confronts breeders and trainers, in a region 
where the winters are more rigorous. In speaking of 
clothing, it may be touched upon. At all seasons of 
the year our nights are cool in California, but they 
are never cold. Hence, it is easier here to keep the 
horse in a uniform temperature than in the North and 
East. I need not say that horses must be warm 
enough, or they cannot be kept in good condition. 
They will not, on the same amount of food, thrive if 
cold. It is, I am sure, an indisputable fact that all 
animals can be kept thrifty and strong on less food 
in a comfortable temperature than in one where thej 
are chilled. I am not altogether sure that artificially 
heated barns will, at all times, prove wholly satis- 



HOODS AND MUZZLES. 261 

factory. I think horses must be more liable to con- 
tract colds, going out of a heated barn into the cold 
mid whiter air of our Northern States, but, as I liave 
had no experience in this direction, I cannot si)eak 
positively on the point. A temperature of about sixty 
degrees is high enough for health ; and the reader in 
a northern region will appreciate from his own 
v^xperience, without my reminder, the importance of 
dul}-^ providing for tliB horse's comfort in winter by 
stabling and good clothing. 

For this countr}^ I like a hnen blanket, with a 
lighter blanket over it, and it seems to suit all sorts 
of weather. In winter it keeps cold out — or rather 
keeps the natural warmth in — and in summer it does 
not get sweaty, keeping the horse's coat nice under all 
conditions. 

The hood is an article of clothing that I am not sure 
is ever absolutely necessary, and, to say the least, 
should be little used. For sweating out the throat, 
or for any purpose that a hood answers, I prefer a 
jowl piece. The use of heavy sweat- hoods is, I am 
sure, often weakening and injurious, and, if used at all, 
it should be with great discrimination and care. 

Muzzles are an invention in horse-wear that are an 
unmitigated evil, and if ever}'- trainer were of my 
mind the harness-makers would soon forget how to 
make them. That there are gluttons among horses 
we all know. They will drive their heads to the 
bottom of a bucket of water, and take chances of 
breathing through their ears rather than draw l)ack ; 
they will try to swallow three quarts of oats in one 
gulp, will gorge on all the hay, straw or anything eat- 



2<i2 TKAININ(J TIIK TROTTING IIOKSE. 

able ill si^ht, ami even in their sloo]) will di-eam of 
haystacks. With such a horse I would far rather 
reg'ulate his feed carefully, bed him with somethin<^ 
lie cannot eat, or even tie him up. In a rai'e case the 
muzzle mio'ht be used on a gluttonous colt, but they 
ai'e hardly ever necessary, and their use hardly ever 
excusable. 

1 do not conceive it necessary, nor a ])rofitable use 
of space, to go through all the details of stable e(]uip- 
meuts and describe the simple uses of such utensils as 
brushes, combs, towels, sj)onges, etc. Whatever curry- 
combs may have been invented for, they should not be 
applied to a horse's skin, but only to the brush. Corn 
brushes are labor-saving devices in cleaning, but are 
moi'e irritating than the sol'tcM* kinds, and are ajit to 
show their work in thinning out the mane and tail. 
The towel, backed up by sutticient and willing "elbow- 
grease," should do the princijial work in cleaning the 
horse. 

The importance of having good rubbers, and the 
difiiculty of getting them, are things that confront 
every trainer. Cheap rubbers are a [loor investment, 
, and they are always to be had, while the competent 
ones are scarce. An inferior or a vicious rubber will 
render ineffective the best efforts of a trainer. They 
should be sober and com]>etent men, good-tempered 
and kind, and should show a pride in the horses they 
care for. 8ucli men generally soon graduate into the 
driving ranks, for as a rule they are intelligent, and 
naturally adajited to handling horses. At Palo Alto 
we have one i-ubber t<i care for three horses; while 
out canniaigning one looks after two horses. 



All iinj)ortant — a very important — part of the equip- 
ment (^r the training'-stal)le is the outfit of l)0(^ts. (Jf 
the ordinary liarness 1 need not speak, as <^-ood liai'ness, 
well made, strong, liglit, perfectly fitting and j)liable 
can be bought for a good price in any city in tiie coun 
tjy, from dealei's of local re])ute. TIk) same may be 
said of sulkies — the Caffrey and the Toomey sulkies 
being the best. But concerning boots more cxtcndcid 
remark is in order. 

The necessity of booting I have alrc^ady referrcid to 
emj)liatically enough, and 1 have furtlnirmorcj alrtjady 
remarked upon the impoi'tance of ha\iiig boots that fit 
properly. No horse or colt will fall to hilchiiig and 
hobbling if he is properly pi'otecled with boots, unless 
he is sore, or over-hurried. 'J'he Ijoot is a pnjcaution 
against possible injuries that may come to the truest- 
gaited and most honest of horses; and it gives the 
horse confidence to strike out fearlessly. JS'o judicious 
or experienced trainer will ever attempt to work colts 
without first properly booting them. 

Jiy far the best boots made in this country are those 
turned out by J. A. McKerron of San Francisco. He 
has experimented and worked tirelessly, and has pei'- 
fected many an improved bo(jt now in daily use all 
over the country. 1 have studied the making of Ixjots 
considerably myself, and some of the improved Mc- 
Kerron boots are practically of my designing, among 
them being about all the varieties of "swivel boots." 
I will, with the aid of cuts, describe some of these 
that I have found most serviceable. 

The Marvin Jiell (Quarter J>(jot, No. 68, is an im- 
])rov(!d (piarter-ljoot, and especially suitable for young- 



204 



TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 






sters in their earlier work. It has a buckskin roll at 
the top, and I have never known it 
to chafe a colt. I may say that I 
am partial to the bell style of quar- 
ter-boot. 

This boot No. 36 is a front ankle- 
boot, which I first had made for 
Bonita. It is made of white felt, 

with leather cap, and has a buckskin 
roll on top for the purpose of holding' 

up a roll. '^■. 

This hinge quarter- 
boot (105) is provided 
with steel plates and is 
a splendid boot for a 
No. :w. hard hitter. The parts ■■' -.in- 

coming in contact with the foot are ^""- ^^• 

of soft, white felt, and though the leather backing is 

stout, and the 
steel plates make 
it an invulner- 
able protection, 
it does not chafe 
or hurt the foot. 
No. Ill is a 
kniee and arm 
boot designed b}'' 
me for Gertrude 
Russell. She 
struck there, and 
No. 111. I failed to suc- 

ceed in protecting her with any boot then extant. 




BOOTS. 



265 





For a very liard knee-hitter a steel plate may be put 

in the cap. 

The Caster Buckskin Shin Roll, No. 35, 

is very effectual for a horse that hits under 

the knee, and is a boot well worth trying 

in gaiting- a 
horse. Like 
the bell quar- mo. 35. 

ter-boot, it often gives the 
horse confidence, and also 
proves a good substitute 
for weight in balancing. 

Cut No. 07 shoAvs the 
pattern of the best front 
shin-boot I have yet used. 

It has rolls and swivel, does not interfere with the 

action ; while affording full cord protection, it keeps 

the legs comparatively cool. 
For a horse tiiat hits his 

hock or rear shins, the com- 
bined hind shin, speed-cut 

and hock-boot shown in Cut 

No. 72 will afford ample 

protection. 

Though the majoi-ity of 

horses need only quarter, 

toe (or "scalper") and shin- 
boots, there are hundreds of 

different varieties, each ()f< 

which may at some time 

come into play, but these here described will meet all 

ordinary emergencies. 




Xo. 



266 TKAININU THE TROTTING HORSE. 

Wliat I have already said renders it unnecessary to 
add niucli more on the subject of toe-weights. Like 
hoods and muzzles, they ma}^ be in rare cases beneficial 
and even necessary, but they are so much abused that 
it is a conviction witli me that it is the safest plan to 
discard them altoo-ether. Tlie time is surely ccmiing 
wluni toe-weiglit trotters will cut a small figure on the 
turf, and toe-M'eights will gradual I3' be abolished. So 
I may say that I am opposed on general princi]iles to 
the use of toe-w^eights, but if I Inul a horse that would 
not trot in any other way, or a pacer I could convert 
in no other wa}^,*! would, as a last resort, try toe- 
weights. I would exhaust every other resource at 
my command before putting on the "murderous toe- 
■weights," and if I had to use them I would discard 
them just as quickly as possible after they had served 
their purpose. I would try the horse without them 
every little while, so that whenever he would go with- 
out them they could be finally cast aside. As I have 
already said, they are in the majority of cases used un- 
necessarily. They are adopted as a remedy for evils 
that can best be met by removing the cause, and as 
horses becoming unbalanced by being urged be3^ond 
what they can honestly do, hitching, etc., from hitting 
themselves, or from any of the many minor causes that 
tend to unbalance a horse's action. Toe- weights have 
undoubtedly made some trotters, and have been valu- 
able in converting pacers to trot, but tlie ]>erfect trot- 
ter should go without them ; and the trotter that trots 
fastest, carries his S])eed the furthest and lasts sound 
the longest will, in the majority of cases, be the horse 
that trots without metal encumbrances on his toes. I 



TOE-WEIGHTS. 267 

cannot but believe that had Maud S. never worn toe- 
weights she would have gone even faster tlian she has. 
Had she been educated from her youngest days to trot 
naturally balanced there is no doubt in my mind that 
she would have been a greater mare than she was on 
the turf, even though that be saying a great deal. So 
my earnest advice to the reader is to train up his colt 
"without any artificial balancing, assuring him that the 
naturally balanced youngster will on the turf have a 
great advantage over the rival that has to lift even a 
quarter of a pound of lead on each front toe at every 
step. In the stress of battle this handicap is bound 
to tell before the wire is reached in the last heat. 



268 TRAINING THE TKOTTING HORSE. 



CHAPTER XXIY. 

STOPPING THE FEET — CARING FOR THE LEGS — THE SOAK- 
ING TUB INJURIES RESULTING FROM HOT - SOAKING 

THE COMPOSITION OF THE HOOF — SHOEING THE 

ELEMENTS OF THE EXTERNAL ANATOMY OF THE FOOT 

THE WALL, THE SOLE, THE FROG AND THE BARS 

THEIR FUNCTIONS — THE WALL THE BEARING PART 

THE ANGLE OF THE FOOT AND PASTERN EFFECTS OP 

HIGH AND LOW HEELS LEVEL AND BEARING TO BE 

PRESERVED STICK TO NATURE THE SHOE TRIM- 
MING AND NAILING EXPERIENCE WITH TIPS. 

When we put our horse away after work, in the last 
chapter, we had done everything but attend to his feet. 
Tiiey shonkl be carefully cleaned and washed out, and 
stopped up with clay. The use of such filth as cow- 
manure, etc., is not only disgusting, but it breeds dis- 
eases of the foot, such as thrush and canker. We 
avoid, in all cases, the use of oils on the. hoof. The 
cooling, cleansing, and moistening effect of washing is 
all that is necessary to keep a healthy hoof in good 
condition. Oil will spoil any hoof, make it brittle, and 
generally demoralize its texture. 

This brings us to a consideration of the care of the 
feet and legs, involving some remarks on the subject 
of shoeing. It is the custom in almost all books on tlie 
horse to include long technical ami tlieoretical disserta- 
tions on the foot and how it should be shod. I have 



CARE OF THE LEGS. 2fi9 

HO intention of following this example, for I do not 
think the ordinary reader cares to wade through more 
than the plain and practical observations of a 
trainer — observations which he can follow, understand 
and a]ipreciate. Every horseman sliould have a good 
general knowledge of the anatomy of not only the leg 
and foot, but the whole structure of the horse. How- 
ever, for scientific instruction on that branch of the 
subject, the veterinary schools and the standard veter- 
inary works are the pro]3er sources of information. I 
shall only refer to these matters sufficiently to make 
myself understood. 

The care of the legs, so long as they remain clean 
and free from inflammation, is a comparatively simple 
matter, but, after trouble begins, the trainer may be 
prepared for vexation of spirit. Just here I do not 
propose to speak of the treatment of injuries or 
unsoundness, having some remarks to make on these 
subjects later on, but will confine this chapter to the 
care of the horse in a normal, condition. Proper boot- 
ing, as I have said, is the first essential, then hand- 
rubbing: and bandaging. After work this leg-wash will 
be found an excellent application : 

Sugar of lead 2 ounces. 

Laudanum 2 ounces 

Water , . 1 quart. 

Rub this well in around the joints, and along the 
tendons; then bandage with a pliable bandage of a 
rather open or porous texture. Be sure that the 
bandage covers the joint properly, as directed in the 
previous chapter; and, while it should be set moder- 



270 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

ately tight, it must not be ti^^ht enough to interfere 
with the circulation, and should not be left on long 
enough to allow the leg to become heated — certainly 
not over two hours — but the time will, in a great 
measure, bo governed by the conditions, the weather, 
etc. I have found this lotion excellent in hardening 
and keeping hard and clean the legs of horses in 
strong work. But, perhaps, after all there is no lotion 
or no treatinent so cooling and benelicial in effect as a 
walk in the dewy grass of early morning. 

I am much opposed to the use of the soaking tub. 
Soaking horses legs and feet in hot water is certainly 
injurious, though the practice is much favored by 
trainers. As far as the legs are concerned it opens the 
pores, relaxes everything, and causes them to fever-up 
quicker every time it is resorted to, until the whole 
mechanism of ligament and cartilage is ripe for break- 
down. As to the feet, can you imagine that to keep a 
horse's foot immersed in hot water, for quite a pro- 
longed period, can have a good effect ? I know that it 
is demoralizing to the foot. The texture of the horn it 
destroys, and renders brittle and hard. The horn of 
a horse's foot is "a series of small tubes cemented 
together by a natural glue having such adherent power 
as to bring them into a compact mass nearly as dense 
as whalebone." As Mr. Joseph Cairn Simpson very 
correctly argues : " The outside of the wall is naturally 
protected from imbibing moisture by a thin covering 
of enamel which, when in a natural state, is an abso- 
lute protection against the ingress of water. . . . 
"When the enamel is rasped away as high, oftentimes 
higher than the ' clinches,' when the knife and rasp 



THE SOAKLXU IT 13. 2Y1 

have cut off the eiuls of the tubes, the natural guards 
are rendered unless, and water is freely admitted. The 
tube is softened, the material which gave it elasticity 
and strength is replaced by that which has neither 
' property ; and, when that is dispersed, there is a col- 
lapse of the tubes, and, per consequence, contraction. 
This is the result of soaking so far as the wall is con- 
cerned. . , . The injurious effects of hot water on 
the wall can be summarized briefly, as follows : Exclu- 
sion of the natural material for keeping the tubes in 
proper shape ; replacing that by a fluid which is 
rapidly evaporated by heat, and which has a tendency 
to change the texture of the horn from a tough, 
strong body to one that it makes hard and brittle." 
The idea that soaking in hot water is necessary to 
keep the hoof in the tough, elastic natural condi- 
tion is erroneous. Cleansing and washing the foot 
in cold water will not interfere with the hoof, and 
will have a cooling, grateful effect. The natural 
secretions of a healthy foot afford all the "moisture" 
necessary to keep it in normal condition when the 
horse is kept in a proper manner. No one is more 
opposed to allowing horses' feet to become unnaturally 
dry than I am ; and for that very reason I have 
insisted that our California summers are difficult 
periods in which to keep horses in training sound and 
well of foot. But the remedy is not in the soaking 
tub. It is inexcusable with a well, sound horse. The 
normal foot that is washed and cleaned as I have 
directed, and that often feels the damp, cool earth, and 
the dewy grasses, will need nothing else to keeji it 
healthy. 



272 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

To treat of shoeino;' thoroughly would involve a 
minute consideration of the anatomy of tlie foot and 
leg; and even to treat it with that brevity which this 
work necessitates, a superficial consideration of the 
formation of the foot is necessary. 

The celebrated English authority, Fearnley, ver}'' 
properly remarks that the majority of writers on the 
foot have erred in considering it in isolation, or by 
itself, instead of as a part of the whole. It seems clear 
to me that to intelligently stud}^ shoeing the foot must 
be considered not by itself, but in its relation to the 
whole structure. 

Certainly the effects of bad shoeing or of indifferent 
care of the feet affect the ankles and tendons directly, 
and as far as shoeing is concerned, the foot proper 
cannot be considered without reference to these parts. 

The external anatomy of the foot may for our pur- 
pose be considered in three divisions : 1. The wall, or 
outer crust, from the coronet to the sole. 2. The sole, 
which Saint Bel defines as " that part which covers the 
whole inferior surface of the foot excepting the frog," 
3. The frog, the insensible, spongy, triangular body in 
the center of the foot. 

The wall, " the circular boundary- wall inclosing the 
internal structures," extends from the coronet, (the 
border-line where the skin joins the hoof, which is 
technically called " the line of the coronary band "), in 
an oblique direction to the bottom of the foot, terminat- 
ing in 'a circular projecting border." This is the 
natural hearing part of the foot, and to it the shoe is 
nailed. Bracy Clark declares that tiie slant of the 
foot from the toe to the coronet should form, an angle 



THE ANATOMY OF THE FOOT. 273 

of forty-five degrees with the ground surface ; and 
another noted writer sets the average depth of the foot 
when ready to receive the shoe at three and one-half 
inches from the coronar^'^ line to the toe, and the depth 
of the heels he sets at from one and one-half to two 
inches. The wall is thicker in the fore foot at the toe 
than at any other part, averaging there about three- 
eighths of an inch; at the quarters, about midway 
from the toe to the heel, the wall is from one-quarter to 
three-eighths of an inch thick, and at the heels about 
the same. 

The bars are a continuation of the wall, extending 
therefrom at the heels, obliquely into the center of the 
foot between the sole and the frog, " constituting two 
inner walls or lateral fences between that body and the 
sole." In a state of nature they bear some pressure. 

The natural function of the frog is that of a cushion, 
and being spongy and elastic, Avhen called upon to bear 
weight it spreads, and to accommodate this action the 
wall expands from the quarters back. Indeed, the 
structure of the foot is such that even if the frog sus- 
tains no pressure, the heel must spread at every stride 
when the weight comes upon the foot. You can 
imagine then what the effect must be of shoeing a 
horse so that the heels are held rigidly to an unyield- 
ing shoe. 

We have seen that the wall is the natural bearing 
part of the foot, and the frog an accessory. The bear- 
ing of the shoe should be wholly on the wall, not on 
the sole, and the ground surface of the wall is the onh' 
part that should ever be pared. This is the part that 
like the human nail grows exuberanth^, and must be 



274 



TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 



]:>ared down every time the horse is shod. The knife 
should never be used on the sole or frog. 

What we ma}^ call the angle of the foot is a very 
important consideration, for the slant or obliquity of 
the pastern must very materially depend upon that of 
the hoof. It needs no elaboration to show that if the 
heel be extremely high the pastern must be very 
straight, and if it be very low the pastern will be very 
oblique. 

Fearnley, the noted English authority to whom I 
have referred, treats the forelegs as the weight-bearers^ 
and the hind legs as the propellers. Practically this is 





true, but whether in the trotting-horse the fore leg has 
strictly no other function than weight-bearing, I am 
not entirely sure. However that may be, it is the 
weight-bearer, and Fearnley fixes the colRn-joint as the 
focus of weight in the foot. If the foot be either 
too high or too low at the heel, if the proper angle of 
the ground surface with the line of the coronet be 
changed, then it is obvious that the focus of weight 
will be disturbed. It will be thrown either too far 
forward or too far backward, just as it would be thrown 
on one side if you put on a shoe two inches thick on 
one side and a half an inch on the other. The imports 
ance then of keeping the foot properly leveled is 



SHOEING. 275 

readily apparent. The cuts on the next page 
illustrate the idea. Fig. 1 showing the effect on the 
pastern where the heel is too low ; 2, the ])roper angles 
of foot and pastern, and 3, an excessively high heel ; 
the joint thrown forward, and the natural sprimj of 
the pastern lost. 

You observe that if the heel is allowed to grow 
unduh' high, the inclination is to knuckle ; if it be too 
low the direction of weight is thrown backward, and 
the strain on the back tendons can be imagined. The 
great aim is to preserve the natural level, and through 
it the proper bearing and balance. 

We trim our colt's feet and shoe our horses every 
three weeks, which will be found as long a period 
as the feet can be allowed to go unattended to with 
impunity. 

In all my studies and methods in training I never 
forget to keep in sight a due regard for what is natu- 
ral. Shoeing is unnecessary to the horse in his wild, 
natural state ; it is artificial and unnatural, because 
the domesticated horse is kept in an artificial and 
unnatural state. It must, therefore, be regarded as a 
necessary evil. But the foot of the horse, unprotected, 
will not stand the battering of turf-training ; tliere- 
fore, the prime and sole object of shoeing is to afford 
the wall of the foot protection against the terrific 
concussion of fast trotting on more or less hard 
tracks. 

The next consideration is to make that protection 
as light and uncumbersome as consistent with efficiency. 
So, at Palo Alto, we shoe our horses all ]iretty much 
alike, with a plain, light, simple shoe, such as is shown 



276 



TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 




in the cuts, ranoing in weight from say, eight to four- 
teen ounces. I like very well Avhat is called a half- 
concave and half-convex 
shoe. The toe concaved 
on the ground surface 
will not throw dirt 
against the liorse's belly, 
which is sufficient to 
make some unsteady, 
while the concavity on 
the upper surface pre- 
vents it from bearing on 
the sole. We generally 
have the shoe drop off 

Typical Palo Alto Shoe. at the liecl ; i. ('., We 

beffin about an inch from the heel to cham])er it off to 
a tapering end. 

My explanation has 
been mainly directed 
toward making clear the 
reasons for preserving 
the natural level and 
bearing, and the neces- 
sity of non-interference 
with the expansion and 
contraction of the lioof 
from the quarter to the 
heel, according as the 
foot bears weight or is 
relieved of it. The levelling I have already spoken 
of ; in the manner of nailing the shoe, the freedom 
to expand must be preserved. We, as a rule, put in 




Inside of Suoii, 



TIPS. 277 

six nails, three on either side, hut never jput a nail hack 
of the ^videfit j>rtri{ of the hoof — the quarters — thus 
leaving the heels free. 

The foot should be so trimmed that the frog- will 
lightly touch the ground, but take little or no weight. 
It is one function of the frog to keep the heels open 
and healthy ; if it become wholly inactive, it, as a notetl 
writer puts it, "melts away and allows the heels to 
come together." On the other hand, I do not believe it 
can, in track work, take any considerable weight without 
injurious results ensuing. In the natural state the frog 
was, beyond dispute, intended to bear a considerable 
amount of pressure, to break the shock of concussion 
on the wall, but I am not ]:)repared to believe that it is 
equal to the emergency of standing any appreciable 
share of the shock in hard track work. 

As to the substitution of tips for shoes I will say 
that on some soils and on some feet they may be used 
to advantage. But my experience has been that they 
are not suitable as a rule for track-work. I have given 
them a very fair trial, and have found that at least on 
our gravellv soil they fail to sufficiently protect the 
feet of horses in training. The tip, as all know, is a 
plate extending around the toe from quarter to quarter 
and set in or inlaid in the wall flush with the ground 
surface of the rear part of the hoof. I found that the 
hoof behind the tip wore away so much faster than 
the tip that soon all the pressure came on the toe, the 
level of the ground surface being destroyed, and 
eventually the toe, as a natural consequence, turned 
up. To reset the tip often enough to ])reserve the 
level would soon necessitate cutting up into the sensi- 



278 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

tive part of the foot. In short, I found that on our 
tracks the heel wanted some protection as well as the 
toe. On a soft soil for jogging, for a horse not- in 
hard training or for a horse with contracted heels, 
they are excellent, but are inadequate protection as a 
rule in the wear and tear of constant track- work. 

In shoeing, the aim is to keep the foot elastic, yield- 
ing and natural. Be careful with the knife, cutting 
only the horn of the w^all. Leave the frog, the sole 
and the bars alone. They will care for themselves. 
When the foot is properly leveled, then fit the shoe 
to the foot ; not the foot to the shoe. 

Shoeing, like everything else, should be looked at 
from a common-sense standpoint. There are no won- 
derful and unrevealed mysteries about it. Keeping in 
view what nature intended, remembering that the sole 
purpose of shoeing is to afford protection, the simpler 
the better ; steering clear of quack smiths that know it 
all and recklessly slash and rasp — these are the most 
important precautions to be kept in view concerning 
shoeing. 



TRACKS. 279 



CHAPTER XXY. 

TEACKS — SHAPE AND TREATMENT — THE EGG-SHAPED TRACK 

THE CUSHION READY FOR RACING PREPARATION 

THE COLT MUST BE GOING SQUARE — CHECKS AND BITS 
AGAIN OBSERVATIONS OF JOHN SPLAN — HIS EXPERI- 
ENCE WITH FANNY WITHERSPOON DRIVING WITH a 

WATCH — THE PREPARATION FOR RACING A WEEk's 

DAILY PROGRAMME DETAILED PRESERVING SPEED 

WHILE CONDITIONING THE HORSE TO CARRY IT TREAT- 
MENT VARIES WITH DIFFERENT HORSES — -THE IMPOR- 
TANCE OF PROPER JOGGING — THE TRAINER MUST NOT 
TRUST DETAILS TOO MUCH TO HIS STABLE ASSISTANTS. 

Having discussed the stable care of the horse we are 
working, we will now return to the track. 

In speaking of the necessary facilities for training 
we cannot omit some remark on the track itself. For 
racing of course the regulation track is best; but for a 
home training track I like an egg-shaped one, so 
planned that the stretches come to and go away from 
the barn. I have already spoken of the habit occa- 
sionally contracted by colts of turning out towai'd the 
track-gate every time they pass it in their work, and 
the reason of my recommendation of an egg-shaped 
track, with the short turn near the stables, is obvious. 
Going on the stretch away from the barn the colt goes 
straight about his business ; coming down the stretch 
toward the barn he brushes fast and willingly. 



280 TEAININa THE TROTTING HORSE. 

You are fortunate if you can have a soil and can 
build a track that need not be harrowed. Tracks that 
become deep and heavy are bad for training. The colt 
strains, the sulky draws hard, and the action is inter- 
fered with. The horse should trot on a smooth sur- 
face, where the sulky and the weight it carries draws 
as lightly as possible. The track that can be kept in 
order by simply scraping and sprinkling is the best. 
The aim is to have the track smooth yet springy, to 
have it clean without being hard, and elastic without 
being- clinmng. 

At Palo Alto we wet the track every night and har- 
row^ it every morning. We try to have as little dirt as. 
possible on its surface, and yet not have it hard enough 
to jar. Last fall we had our track in such shape that 
only sprinkling and scraping was necessar3\ This w^as 
brought about by plow^ing, manuring, then plowing the 
manure under, after which it was sown with rye. 
When the rye was about two feet high we plowed it 
under, not very deeply, and then shaped up the track. 
The rye was sown December 10th and plowed under 
March 1st. 

The great point in track building is to get a perfect 
cushion — one that is smooth, springy and clean, where 
there is a certain amount of yielding ^vhen the foot 
strikes, but yet no softness of surface. 

To the point where we branched off track work to 
consider stabling and stable care we will now return. 
The colt was going smooth and true and was per- 
fectly balanced, or else you had failed to rightly inter- 
pret and a]iply my instructions ; for, though it is a 
repetition of wdiat has already been said, if he became 



SEVERE BITS AND CHECKS. 281 

unbalanced, hitched, and got rough in his gait, the 
proper remedy was to go back to a rate at which he 
coukl go square. I cannot too often or too emphati- 
cally declare the necessity of preserving true balance. 
Every revolution should be as smooth and true as a 
perfectly balanced wheel that runs with little expendi- 
ture of driving power — not like a wheel with a big 
side to it, that is only kept laboriously^ revolving by 
constant driving. Development ceases at that point 
where truly balanced and regular action is transformed 
into the jerky hitching, irregular way of "getting 
there " that we so often see. 

You can, with little practice, judge whether a horse 
driven by another is trotting square by listening to the 
foot-falls. The sound of a fast, well balanced trotter's 
steps mark time as regularly as the swinging of a 
pendulum. Time is beaten, one, two, three, four, one^ 
two, three, four — smoothly and accurately, with the 
intervals strictly regular. 

Checks and bits have a good deal to do with balanc- 
ing the horse, and the less restraint or annoyance these 
appliances give the horse the better. I like plain bits. 
If you cannot control a horse with a plain bit, you 
have a small chance of making a trotter of him at all. 
Such bits as the " Perfection," '' Rockwell," etc., I con- 
sider pernicious contrivances. There are cases where 
a horse has improved with a severe bit, but the}^ are 
exceptional. With what extreme measures have 
achieved I do not quarrel, but I do argue against using 
artificial and unusual appliances unnecessarily, and this 
applies not only to bits, checks, shoes, weights, etc., 
but to ever}^ thing connected with training. 



282 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

Jolin Splan, in his work, " Life with the Trotters," 
has, among many good things, these remarks, which 
^re well worth quoting : 

" My experience has been that no horse can be suc- 
tjessfully driven with anything like a severe bit. I 
never saw one that was broken of the habit of pulling 
in that way. If you put a severe bit in the horse's 
mouth and pull on it, it makes him mad and irritates 
him ; the further you drive him and the harder you 
pull, the more he will pull against you. When I was a 
boy almost ever}?- trotter I saw would pull in a disa- 
greeable manner when being driven at top speed. At 
the present time I cannot think of one horse that is 
anything like first-class, that pulls enough to make it 
disagreeable for a man at any time. . . . There 
are a great many horses that will not take kindly to 
an over-check, and if you insist on using it on them it 
will sooner or later spoil the horse's disposition to a 
great extent. The plainest case of the kind that ever 
came into my hands was Fanny Witherspoon. She 
had been trained for a number of years, and always 
with an over-check. I trained her myself for over a 
year in the same manner, but with very little satisfac- 
tion, as she seemed to continually have some trouble 
with her mouth. In talking the matter over with my 
friend Hickok he advised that I try her with a check 
bit, side-check, and nose-band attachment. I did so, 
and in the shortest time imaginable the mare showed a 
very marked improvement in her driving." 

When a horse seems to be irritated and fights the 
bit or check, he cannot improve. It may take some 
experimenting to find out what will suit him, but the 



don't try to beat the watch. 283 

quicker he is suited the better. "Why some horses like 
an over-check and some a side-check, and why certain 
bits must be used on certain horses, it is often hard to 
explain ; but the one fact confronting the trainer is 
that the mouth must be kept right and the head rigged 
with check and bit which the horse will not resent 
and fight, if satisfactory results are to be accomplished. 

The quotation from Splan, with which I wholly 
agree, reminds me of another remark in his book, from 
which I must dissent. That is where, in speaking of 
condition, he states that if you get a horse in condition 
he will have his speed. That is all right if you have a 
trotter already made when you get him, but it does 
not hold in educating horses to trot. You can put a 
horse that has not been taught to trot fast in ]:)erfect 
condition, but condition and speed are not the same 
thing, though each is essential to a great performance. 
You must get the speed before condition can carry you 
to the wire in 2:20. 

It is well to learn to drive by the watch, provided 
you don't try to beat it. It improves a man's judg- 
ment of pace, and hence teaches him to rate more 
evenly. The only danger is that the driver will test 
the horse's speed too often by the watch. Let it be 
j^'our guide, but not a competitor with your horse. I 
consider it indeed essential to good and exact training 
that the driver practice rating by the watch, for he 
will not only learn to rate better himself, but the horse 
will learn to trot evenly at almost any rate of speed 
desired within his limits. 

With these general remarks, we may proceed to 
consider the colt's preparation for a race, presuming 



284: TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

that he has shown speed enough in his brushes to 
justify the behef that he will do himself credit in 
public. 

The question is, how fast is it necessary for him to 
go to win ? At Palo Alto we do not think we have 
very much to "bank on" unless the colt can show us 
quarters in thirty- three to thirty-four seconds, but a 
man need not be discouraged because his three-year- 
old cannot quite do that. To illustrate our method of 
preparation for races, however, we will suppose the 
colt can show a quarter in thirty-four or thirty-five 
seconds, that he is going level and right, and that he 
has his engagement to meet in three weeks from Mon- 
da3\ Sunday with me is always a day of rest, for 
horses and men. Even if I race on Monday, Sunday 
is the same, and I have found it good policy to keep 
it in this way, not to speak of moral obligations. 

Monday, after the usual morning programme, we 
will jog him from fiv^e to eight miles, according to age 
(usually not over five in the case of a two or a three- 
year-old), on the track or road. A jog on a good road 
is very beneficial, as it breaks the monotony of track- 
work, and is in a measure interesting to the colt, 
Tuesday, at the accustomed time, jog him say about 
three miles — just enough to have him empty himself 
and get warmed ready for work — and then put on his 
quarter-boots and give him three or four brushes of 
about a quarter of a mile each, finishing all strong, 
and the last one about up to his limit. The next day, 
Wednesday, we will jog about three miles again, the 
jogging always being merely for the purposes named, 
and after scorins: a few times i2:ive him a mile in about 



DETAILS OF WORK. 285 

2:37. We are now, it must be remembered, in pre- 
scribing- this work, supposing that the horse under 
preparation can speed a 2:30 gait ; but at whatever 
rate he can go the reader will see that we approach 
his limit slowly and cautiously. This mile in 2:37 or 
2:38 will be easy for him, but he should be asked to 
come the last quarter fast. Now, after unharnessing 
and a light rub-out, put on a blanket, remove his 
boots, hand rub his legs, and then walk him in a sheet 
for say twenty minutes. Then put him in the sulky 
again, score up four or five times until he is good and 
ready to "go," and send him a mile in say 2:33 to 2:35, 
finishing strong as before. Then properly care for 
him as already described in a previous chapter. The 
body wash there given is very good, and I have also 
found a lotion of arnica, rum and water to be excel- 
lent for the muscles after work. There are dozens .of 
preparations for this purpose perhaps equally as good 
as the two I have given, and important ingredients in 
most of them are witch-hazel and arnica, which are 
always beneficial on strained or work-sore muscles. 

On Thursday our horse will only require a light jog 
for exercise, neither far enough or fast enough to tire 
him in the least. On Friday, after the usual warming- 
up jog, give him tiiree or four quarters — one fast 
enough to keep his speed at an edge. On Saturday we 
will jog him smartl}' for two miles, say, and then work 
him four miles at regular intervals — that is, at inter- 
vals of twenty to twenty-five minutes. The first mile 
should l)e in about 2:38 or 2:40, the second in 2:3o to 
2:32, the third say in 2:26 to 2:28, and the fourth in 
2:23 to 2:25 — always finishing fast and strong. 



286 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

Repeat this programme the following week, and up 
till Wednesday of the week before the race. That day 
he will be worked out a couple of miles, on Thursday 
will get a light jog, and on Friday three or four fast 
quarters — and be sure he has his speed. If he has, and 
is well, you are ready for the fray on Monday. The 
object of the course of work lie has been given is to 
condition him to carry his speed full miles and yet not 
to dull any more than possible the fine edge of the 
speed we worked up to in our brushes. I have found 
that after a horse loses part of his speed it comes back 
slowly. He should not have work enough to dull his 
speed, drill him down, or take the vim out of him. 
Keep him feeling good. A horse never gets track-sick 
until he is abused — overwork is abuse, though it may 
not be intentional abuse — and as soon as he shows 
track- weariness, and loses the ability and the desire to 
brush as fast and strong as ever, the note of warning I 
have already sounded so frequently is in order again: 
Ease up, for you are overdoing it. 

The preparation, like every other detail in the train- 
ing, needs, I need not say, discriminating judgment. 
No rule can be laid down to suit every horse. The 
above course is not meant as a rule always to be strictly 
followed. It sim])ly outlines the general plan on which 
we prepare our horses. At every stage of training 
and preparation the trainer's judgment must come to 
his aid, and guide him as to what to do, how far to go, 
and when and how to do it. Just as horses differ so 
must the ap]ilication of a system be elastic. 

Few trainers do much jogging, leaving that to the 
boys ; but I will say that I would always rather do my 



WOEK THE HOESE YOUESELF. 287 

own jogging, and always do it with horses that I am 
especially preparing for important performances. It 
may seem a very simple matter, but it is one of great 
importance. Mouth, gait, temper, are all directly 
^involved. To turn out a masterpiece of work in train- 
ing the one hand should do all the driving. You can 
be sure the horse feels the difference. This preliminary 
work should be done smoothly and steadily, and at a 
smart, lively jog. Attention to details is the great 
thino- in training as in all other branches of human 
endeavor. Tlie man who gets in the sulky when the 
horse is ready to work, drives him his mile and repeat, 
and leaves all the rest to the rubbers to do, if they 
will and how they will, may have an easy and pleasant 
time in this life, but he won't break many records. 



288 TRAINING THE TKOTTINU HORSE. 



CHAPTER XXYI. 

THE MORNING OF THE RACE — PRELIMINARIES — STARTING 

AND SCORING — GOING FOR THE HEAT WHAT TO DO 

BETWEEN HEATS — COOLING OUT WHAT TO DO IF THE 

HORSE DOES NOT COOL OUT PROPERLY, AND IS DIS- 
TRESSED — STIMULANTS FEEDING IN A RACE HAVE 

EVERY THING READY BEFOREHAND MUD SHOES 

ATTEND TO BUSINESS, AND AVOID TRICKS — LAYING UP 
HEATS — DRIVING REQUIRES NATURAL FITNESS — JUDG- 
MENT OF PACE — THE STEADY HORSE HAS THE ADVAN- 
TAGE — THE EXIGENCIES OF A HEAT — KEEP COOL, AND 
STAY WITH YOUR HORSES. 

The night before the race and the morning of race- 
day give the horse his usual feed. After breakfast jog 
him three or four miles. After coming in from the jog 
give him a little water and a light feed of hay that he 
will eat up clean. I do not lilie muzzles, as I have 
said, but if you have a "gormandizer" you can now 
muzzle for a little while, and leave him alone to rest. 
If he is a gentlemanly and dainty horse, that is above 
chewing his bedding, the muzzle is not, of course, neces- 
sary. About eleven o'clock give him his usual dinner, 
and about one you can take him out and jog a couple of 
miles ; then drive him a good strong mile, at some 
point o]iening him right u]), to see that he has his 
speed. J]}"^ the time you have cooled him out the hour 
for the race will have arrived, and if it is 3'our first 



RACE DAY, 2SnO 

race the clanging of the judges' bell will probaljly 
strike n'ou with a thrill. But keep cool, and go about 
it just as if you were going to work out your horse. 
Take him out and jog him until warm, score or brush 
sharp once or twice, and go to tiie stand, weigh in and 
get your position. Now the field goes down to score, 
and it is always well to co-operate Avith the starter and 
endeavor to ])revent delay. There is no other thing 
connected with the trotting-turf, bari-ing the "jobs," 
that does so much to render it unpopular as the tedious 
delay and repeated scoring tiiat is so common. So do 
not be an obstructionist on tlie score. 

Now we are ready, and as we are not working tlie 
pool-box, but have our hearts set on winning the race, 
we will attend to that business from the word "go." 
I have had horses (and among them Palo Alto in his 
four-year old form) that required a heat in company 
before they were ready to go after the money, but 
they are the exception. In the heat do the best you 
oan to get to the front, and if the horse can win it 
within himself don't pump him ort any more than is 
necessary to safely win, and lea'/e the artistic but 
somewhat deceptive pastime of driving head and head 
finishes, when you can as well win by a length or so, 
to otiier smart jientlemen. After the heat take vour 
horse to tlie stall, or better yet, if the air is balmy and 
dry, under the shade of a tree; take off his liarness 
and boots, scrape him easily and quickly, light]}' rulj a 
little of the water off him, and then throw on a light 
blanket and Widk him. Give him a swallow of water 
occasionally, but not much or not too often, and after 
lie has walked a while if he will scrape, scrape him out 



200 TRAININd THE TROTTING HOKSE. 

a little. Then apply one of the body washes I have 
recommended over tlie loins and back and the muscles 
of the shoulders and forearms, as well as those running- 
down under the flank. Now walk him again in the 
blanket, and by this time he ought to be tliorough\v 
blowed out and ready for another heat. If lie has, 
however, failed to scrape well, and seems unduly dis- 
tressed after the heat, s})ouge him over with tej)id 
water. In some cases I have seen cold water do just 
as well. This will almost certainly relieve him. 

Another very good a])])lication I have found Avitli 
horses that showed tUstress is warm water and Med- 
ford rum, with a little salt added, applied all over the 
muscles. Sometimes a horse Avill get all "corded up" 
in the muscles, and seem to be in a measure ])ara]yzed. 
Hot applications are the surest relief. Splan recom- 
mends blankets wrung <:)ut of warm water, and laid 
across his back and shoulders. I consider this treat- 
ment good. 

As to internal stimulants, I do not believe in them 
as a rule. In the case of a very tired, or a])parently 
beaten horse, they may be used to advantage occasion- 
ally. Brandy and whisky are the most commonly 
used, and one is probably as good as another. 

The treatment above described should be repeated 
after each heat, and if all goes well the horse should be 
none the worse for the race. After the race is over take 
him to his stable, and do him up in much the way I 
have recommended that he be treated after work, with 
perhaps a little more attention and care. The day fol- 
lowing the race he will not require an}'- exercise be3"ond 
a walk in the morning and evening. Eest is what he 



IJKTWKKN HKATS. 201 

most requires, and if lie has had a hard race take off 
his shoes for a day ov two, walk iiim in the dew, give 
him a little grass, and in general treat him so that he 
will be thoroughly rested and refreshed. Then resume 
work as before, at fast brushes, to improve his speed, 
and gauge your work at distances by your engage- 
ments. 

Between heats feed your horse. Jack Feek says 
that he finds nothing better after a horse has gone two 
or three hard heats than a quart or two of good, clean 
oats, and I am inclined to agree with him. I have 
found oatmeal gruel excellent, though some horses will 
not eat it. As a rule, however, you can get 3'our horse 
accustomed to it; and in that case you should have it 
ready before the race, lie will not require it at first, 
but after the second or third heats give him a little. 
It is a mistaken idea to suppose that a hungry horse 
can trot and last through a hard race. Certainly he 
cannot trot on a full stomach, but he must have suffi- 
cient nourishment to keep him strong. If you have 
ever felt the weak and "gone" feeling of trying to 
work on a thoroughly empty stomach, when hunger 
gnawed, and the body was tired, you will not ask a 
horse to trot a long race without moderate tastes of 
food and water. 

Preparation is half the battle in every thing. You 
should go to the races prepared. See that not only 
your horse is right and ready, but that every thing, 
harness, boots, shoes, sulky, rubbers, and all other 
belongings, are ready to answer the requirements of a 
contest that may be lost through some little thing 
being overlooked. Have a kit of tools with you in 



292 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE, 

case the horse throws a shoe, and have mud shoes in 
case you may have to trot the race over a muddy 
track. For mud-trotting I use a convex shoe with a 
toe and heel calk. The shoes should be fitted to the 
foot and all ready to nail on in case they are re- 
quired. 

Make it a rule to have every thing ready, and be 
ready yourself, not onl}'^ for the day of the race, but for 
the call of every heat. It is policy to get out promptly, 
and act in such a manner that the judges and tlie 
people may see that you wish to trot the race })romptly, 
squarely, and win it if you can without trickery or 
'' jockeying." A writer tells us " how to talk to tlie 
judges." I would say, do not talk to them at all. 
Speak when you are spoken to, a,nd don't waste your 
breath and show your lack of balance by saying 
"smart" things, making unnecessary complaints, ad- 
vising the judges, etc. If you are compelled to make 
a complaint, make it in courteous, ])luin, and gentle- 
manly terms, and get through as quickly as possible. 
In the midst of a race and in the judges' stand is 
neither the time nor place for a driver to deliver a 
lecture. If he must talk let him take some more ap- 
pro])riate time. It is a gootl deal more difficult to 
know how not to talk to the judges than it is to talk 
to them. I luive occasionally come in for pretty 
" bad deals" at the hands of starters and judges, but I 
generally found the old rule to a]iply : " The least said, 
the soonest mended." 

On the subject of laying up heats I may state it is 
seldom necessary, and should never be done unless 3^ou 
are sure it will materially better 3^our chances of win- 



LAYING UP HEATS. 203 

ning the race, and you will not find this to be the case 
so often as some seem to think. Sometimes a horse, 
as I have remarked, will not do himself justice until 
he trots a heat or two in company, and in that case 
the practice is justifiable. Again, if you believe that 
one or two horses in the field may have more speed 
than you have, it will sometimes prove good policy to 
let them go out and figlit one another for a heat or 
two, after which you can go at them 'with an advan- 
tage. But these are exceptional cases. To have 
every tiling to my liking, I want the horse ready to go 
right out for the money. In general, if you can win 
at all you can win in straight heats ; and that is tlie 
clean, straightforward way to do it, if possible, besides 
being very much better for your horse. In four cases 
out of five when heats are laid up they are laid up 
with reference to the pool box. The motive is gen- 
erally not to make surer of winning the race, but to 
influence the betting, and this very thing has in a 
measure tentled to disgust the public with trotting. 
On the question of betting I need not speak. That 
has nothing to do with training. If a man wants to 
bet on a horse-race and bets his own money, I cannot 
see that he does anything wrong. No moral or civil 
law is offended. But the trouble is that too many 
make winning the race a secondary consideration to 
winning in the pool-box, and therein is a great wrong. 
The first duty of a driver in a race is to win if he can, 
and the man who goes out with the idea of laying up 
heats and working the pool-box uppermost in his mind, 
and making tlie matter of winning races subordinate 
considerations, is simply betraying, deceiving and i-ob- 



294 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

bing his employer. I am for honesty in the sulk}'-, 
first, last, and all the time. 

If 3"ou are confronted with the possible situations 
which I have indicated, or throw^ a shoe, or meet with 
other mishap, where it is necessary to lay up one or 
more heats, do it right. If you drop so far back in the 
first quarter or half that you will have to drive fast in 
the last half to save your distance, 3^ou have not gained 
anything. Get away well with the field and droj? 
back gradually, say about twenty yards in each quar- 
ter, so that 3'ou will land safely inside the distance flag 
after going an easy, evenly rated mile well within your 
horse's capacity at every stride. I have seen very 
clever "generalship" result in laying up heats so 
neatly that the flag fell in front in place of behind the 
horse, and that is, I should judge, rather annoying. 
Sometimes "generalship" and "jockeyship" may win 
the race, but I advise the 3'oung trainer to trust neither 
to his own "smartness" nor to "luck," but rather to 
the speed and condition of his horse. That is what 
wins races. 

Drivers are born, not made, and it is impossible to 
teach a man so that he can get up behind a horse and 
drive him well unless he has the natural gift ; and onlv 
this, with experience, makes a good driver. You want 
a steady, firm hand, and yet a light one. You want a 
firm hand, but not a rigid, unyielding one, for a certain 
ease is necessary to give the horse confidence. If the 
driver be nervous and unsteady the horse will soon 
know it, and his steadiness will be affected bv it. 
I^ever take more hold on the horse than is necessar\^ 
to give him confidence and to hold him steady and 



K ACE-DRAWING. 295 

safe. A good driver must be a o;ood judge of pace and 
of distance, cool-headed, with ])resence of mind, and 
able to take in a situation at a glance and act upon it 
instantly. He must be ready to see an advantage the 
moment it })resents itself, and seize it the moment he 
sees it. All this, as I have said, cannot be learned — 
there are certain qualities of the brain and the hand 
that must in a degree be natural to the man, though 
they may be perfected by acquirement. A driver may 
be good when going at a 2:4:0 gait, but the same man 
may be all at sea when going at a 2:16 gait. The dif- 
ference in results that will follow a move at a 2:40 gait 
and that which may follow a move at a 2:20 gait is 
marvelous. 

Judgment of pace is very essential in a good driver ; 
without that he is always liable to misjudge what he 
is really doing. He may go a quarter or a half at a 
terrific gait, and thus take more out of his horse in 
o;oino- a moderate mile than another driver would take 
out of him in going a fast mile by even rating. I 
teach my horses to rate evenly — that is, to have them 
carry any desired rate of speed steadily. Driving 
with the watch will, as I have said, improve judgment 
of pace, but so many drivers indulge in trving to beat 
the watch that I am diffident about recommending it. 
However, if a man uses it with discretion, and by its 
help accustoms himself to gauge the pace lie goes, 
and to rate evenly, it is an invaluable aid. ]\[oving in 
a jerky, spasmodic manner — making a sudden rush 
here, and easing up there — is bad policv. Many a 
horse is thus beaten in slower time than he is capable 
of trotting if properly rated. 



296 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

I consider John Splan one of the best judges of pace- 
■\ve have on the turf. As an ilhistration of this, I may 
recall the performance years ago at Chico, California, 
between Earns and Goldsmith Maid. Splan and his 
friends had bet that 2:17 would be beaten, but the first 
heat the mare seemed tied up and only finished the 
mile in 2:19|^, Budd Doble declaring that she was 
" wobbling all the time." After the next heat Doble 
repeated this, when Splan said, " She has wobbled as 
good a mile as ever she did in her life," and when the 
time, 2:14:^, was hung out, it showed that he judged 
the pace they trotted well. 

In speaking of training the colt I have warned the 
reader against the fallacy of "teaching him to break 
and catch," and I can only repeat here that what j'^ou 
want to do is to teach the horse to trot without break- 
ing. A stead}' horse, other things being equal, will 
wear down the horse that "breaks and catches" 
several times in a mile. Sometimes a horse seeks re- 
lief in a break, but as to the ultimate benefit of " rest- 
ing breaks " I am skeptical. During the war I was in 
the cavalry service, and an old frontiersman taught me 
if I had to ride all day the least tiresome way was to 
sit still in the saddle. I could ride twenty hours in 
one position, while a companion, shifting positions and 
trying to rest himself, would thoroughly tire. So I 
think the steady horse makes the mile with greater 
ease than the one that engages in the rather violent 
exercise of " breaking and catching." A driver of 
judgment and experience will soon learn to detect the 
signs of a coming break b}" watching the horse's head, 
and there is the direction to keep your eyes in. It is 



STEADINESS. 29 T 

far better to anticipate the break, and by steadying 
him prevent it, than to let hini break and then catch 
him. But I have known drivers of long experience 
that never seemed to have learned this. 

There are hardly ever two heats trotted alike, and it 
is vain to endeavor to direct how to meet the thousand 
different positions and contingencies that will confront 
you. Your native "generalship" and intuition, your 
natural quickness to perceive how to take advantage 
of your position, and how to work into a good position, 
must be your guide. I have often found that a man in 
second position can hokl his place without much loss of 
ground, but there is no place quite so comfortable as 
showing the way and rating to suit yourself. I need 
not say that the way to " get there " is to go sti'aight 
and steady, and that seesawing in and out is the best 
Avay of getting very little good out of a great deal of 
hard work. However, just how to act and manage in 
the exigencies of a heat can only be learned by actual 
experience. In short, in starting keep your proper 
position, and try and get away well ; in the heat attend 
to "getting there" with a little to spare for the finish : 
between heats attend the horse right, and at all times 
Iceep cool. 

I make it a rule when out racing to stay always at 
the track with my horses, and am the last man to see 
them at night and the first to see them in the morning. 
It has, besides being a proper precaution and an assur- 
ance that nothing is neglected, a good effect on the 
stable-men. The driver who goes out on a campaign 
is not on a pleasure excursion, if he attends properly to 
business, and I recommend to all young trainers the rule 
I have followed with regard to stavino- with the horses. 



298 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 



CHAPTEK XXVII. 

COIVIMON INJURIES AND AILMENTS AND THEIR TREATMENT 

HORSES THAT TROTTED AFTER BREAKING DOWN — TREAT- 
ING FILLED LEGS IODINE A FAVORITE REMEDY 

CURBS CRACKED HEELS DISTEMPER • — THRUSH 

QUARTER CRACK TENDER FEET THE LOCKIEPAD SHOE 

SPLINTS — SPRUNG TENDONS A GENERAL CAUTION. 

It is the practice in almost all borse-books to add 
wbat I may call aYeterinary Department, and if tbese 
departments tbat find a place in so manj' works really 
taugbt wbat tbey are supposed to teacb, tbere would 
no longer be any use for veterinaiy surgeons, for every 
one would know bow to cure every equine ailment 
witbout professional aid. Now, I bave no intention of 
following tbe usual example, or encroaching on tbe 
sacred soil of veterinary science, but there are certain 
ailments and injuries to which borses in training are 
peculiarly liable, and with Avhich everv trainer must 
himself co]ie, and with the treatment of a few of these 
I propose briefl}^ to deal. "With all due respect to the 
professional veterinarians, there are some troubles for 
the cure of which I would ratlier trust to the treat- 
ment of an experienced and competent trainer than 
to tbat of the average veterinary surgeon. The reason 
is, tJiat the trainer is almost constantly treating and 
caring for the mishaps and ailments peculiar to train- 



IN.ILRIES. 299 

ing, while with the veterinaiy surgeon these forms of 
injury or disease ure only occasionally met, and he has 
no reason to specially study them any more than any 
other one of the thousand ills that e(]uine flesh is 
heir to. 

Many horses have trotted creditable races and taken 
fast records when ])ractically broken down. Smuggler 
""had a leg" all through his great campaign of 1870. 
It was an enlarged or "filled" foreleg, and he was 
lame of it the greater part of the time. Peo])le said 
that every race would be his last, and it would not 
have greatly surprised me to have seen him break down 
entirelv after any fast heat. His campaign must be 
esteemed all the greater on that account. Other horses 
have done great things for me after they had gone 
Avrong. We supposed Palo Alto to have been broken 
down after his four-year-old campiugn, and it was with 
" fear and trembling" that we endeavored to train him 
last spring. But he stood up through great races, and 
went a mile in !2:12^, faster than any stallion ever 
trotted previous to 1889. Sallie Benton had a strained 
suspensory ligament when she made her record of 
2:1 Tf. Fred Crocker had a bad tendon when he low- 
ered the two-year old record to 2:25J. Elaine gave 
"way in one of the rear flexor tendons, and trotted her 
races with the tendon supported by a rubber bandage 
about four inches wide and five feet long, wrapped 
about the leg, and fastened Avitli a rubber strap. 
Bonita, too, was a virtually broken down mare before 
she was retired, and Occident's traveling gear was 
"out of fix" before I ever trotted him. I only cite 
these cases to show what patient patching-up and care 



300 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

may accomplish, and I could add to the list many less- 
noted cases. 

There is usually no warning of a break-down. The 
first thing- you know some morning you will find a leg 
filled, tender to the touch, feverish, and painful when 
the horse walks. The first thing is to get the fever 
out. This we usually accomplish by hot fomentations. 
For fevered legs I have found this lotion very good : 

Acetic acid 1 gallon. 

Sal ammonia 4 ounces. 

Tincture asafetida , 2 drachms. 

Mix : Use one ounce of the mixture to one quart of 
water, or witch-hazel — the latter preferred. 

A bandage wet with a solution of sugar of lead and 
laudanum is effective, keeping the bandage on for a 
reasonable time and leaving it off for about the same 
time, alternately. 

My favorite treatment is, after the fever is reduced, 
to appl}'' iodine freely. The iodine will cause a slight 
blister, but it cannot be used in connection with show- 
ering the leg — a very cooling and beneficial treatment 
— or with bandages. It is useless to attem]5t to work 
a horse while there is smy swelling or fever in the leg. 
It is very dilficult to locate trouble in the tendon, and 
nothing can be done until the inflammation is reduced, 
after which I have found iodine as good an application 
as any. I have often tried firing horses, but Avith little 
success. I have never found them as good again. 

I use iodine very freely in training, both on the well 
and the ailing. I applv it lightly to the legs of colts, and 
know that it helps to keep them right. For this pur- 



BKEAK-DOWN. 301 

pose you must not ap])ly enough to cause fever, or to 
blister, for that will defeat your object. After pro})- 
•erly applying it, in time a little scurf may appear, but 
so slight that a few days let-up and a wash or so will 
clean it off. I have been told that iodine will dry up 
the natural fluids of the joints. Long experience has 
failed to show me this. When I began working the 
geldmg Clay, I found him knuckling and trembling on 
all his legs. I iodined him so heavily for three years 
that during that time he never was free of the scurf 
raised by the drug. At the end of that period his 
ankles were clean, sound and straight. I have used it 
for twenty years, both as a cure and as a preventative, 
and have never found it to injure an animal. A little 
practice will show how to judiciously apply it. Begin 
easy, and apph' it without much rubbing, and be care- 
ful not to use enough, or rub it in enough, to cause the 
leg to become feverish. 

When a horse springs a curb with me I first get the 
inflammation down in the usual way and then iodine 
it severely. I then let him up in his work, but jog him 
to keep him in as good condition as possible. I have 
generally found curbs to yield to this treatment. A 
curb is the least objectionable form of undsoundness. 
I do not believe that what we usually Cidla ''crooked" 
or " curby-shaped " hock is any more liable to develop 
actual curbs than a perfectly straight one. At least, 
in m^' experience I have found as many faultlessly 
shaped hocks to throw out curbs as the "crooked" 
ones. Manzanita has an elegantly shaped leg and per- 
fect hock, but she threw out a curb as a two-year-old. 
I treated her with iodine, kept on working her, gave 



# 



302 TRAINING THE TKOTTINc; IloUSK. 

her M two-year-old trial of 2:25, and cured the curb into 
the bargain. 

If the above treatment fails to have the desired 
effect, the next resource is a regular blister. I have 
found Gunibaldt's Balsam a very satisfactory blister, 
and have also liad good results from a mixture of lard 
and i-ed iodide of mercury, in the proportion of seven 
parts of lai'd to one ])art of the iodide of mercury. In 
applying a liquid blister it is not necessary to clip the 
hair or grease the leg. The amount of rubbing largely 
governs the degree of severeness of any blister. To 
apply the mercury blister 1 clip the hair, apply the 
ointment, rubbing it with tiie i);dni of the hand for 
about five minutes, adding more in the meantime as the 
leii- absorbs it. Then I let it take its coui-se until tlie 
scab comes off, and grease the leg, which will pi-eserve 
the color of the hair. Siiould tliis ))rove ineffective, 
after every trace of the first blister is gone, I repeat 
the same treatment. I do not believe, however, in 
indiscriminate blistering. It is to be resorted to spar- 
ingly. "JUister and turn out" is a very common 
recipe, and often a successful one — and in many cases 
the success is really due to the rext, but is credited to 
the hlister. 

Cracked heels are annoyances that every trainer 
encounters. The causes of this form of trouble are 
various, and the cures are as numerous as the causes. 
Sometimes bandaging may cause the eruption; 
standing in a damp place and failing to properly 
dry the legs after being washed in a common cause. 
Tliat criicked heels are sometimes traceable to bad con- 
dition of the blood is also true, and some horses seem 



CRACKED HEELS. 303 

chronically subject to the trouble. "Whatever the 
cause may be, cracked heels seriously interfere with 
training. The heels become inflamed and tender ; the 
skin cracks, and these sometimes exude blood ; and in 
bad cases there is swelling and extreme sensitiveness, 
especially when the fetlock joint is called into action. 
Of course the horse shortens his stride, and is dainty 
with the legs so affected. The treatment I have found 
most efficacious is an application composed of equal 
parts of Goulard's Exact, glycerine, and olive oil. 

The parts must be kept clean and dry, and, as much 
as possible, the sweat should be prevented from running 
down over them. The application should, after wiping 
dry, be rubbed in. This ointment was used effectually 
on Goldsmith Maid, and I have found it good. Citric 
ointment is also sometimes used, and a mixture of 
equal parts of olive oil and ether is good. I have cured 
chronic cases with this. The following application I 
have also found good, and it is recommended by my 
friend James A, Dustin, of track renown : 

Lard | pounJ. 

Sulphur 4 ounces. 

Camplior | ounce. 

Tannin 1 ounce. 

Goulard's Extract ^ ounce. 

Cliarcoal , 2 ounces. 

Mix. 

Of course the horse's bowels should be kept in a 
normally free condition, but it must be remembered 
that the trouble is chiefly local and must be locally 
treated. It does not follow that the same treatment 
will relieve all cases ; indeed, I have found the one 



304 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

remedy fail to work successfully twice on the same 
horse. 

"Distemper" is the usual name applied to various 
forms of a common epidemic of a catarrhal nature that 
usually makes a clean march throug-h a stable, and may 
prevail in all degrees of severity, from the form of a 
light cold to that of a most distressing- and dangerous 
influenza. The horse shivers and shrinks; his coat 
becomes rough and staring ; the appetite fails ; the 
mouth and eyes bespeak high fever ; a cough develops ; 
swelling may appear in the legs and about the head 
and neck. The throat is generally the point where the 
attack develops its greatest severity ; and in some cases, 
as in that of Wildflower, the membranes of the nostrils 
may be so destroyed as to perinanentl}^ interfere with 
breathing, and the body may forever carry the scars 
following eruptions all over it. You cannot well 
imagine a more woe-begone and demoralized creature 
than a horse in the grip of severe distemper. 

The horse must be kept warm and clean, and if run- 
ning freely so much the better. Sometimes we steam 
the head and throat and administer aconite — dose, fif- 
teen drops in a little water, say every two hours, if the 
fever is moderately high. In very severe fevers we 
give the aconite every half-hour for a time. When it 
is deemed best to poultice the throat, a poultice of slip- 
pery elm bark, liops and oil cake is good. Some 
strongly recommend quinine for distemper. It is so 
varying, and in severe cases so dangerous a disease, 
that a veterinarian should be called if the symptoms 
indicate anything worse than a severe cold, unless you 
are somewhat accustomed to its treatment. 



THRUSH. 305 

Thrush, I have observed, very often goes in company 
with contracted feet. It is a disease of the frog-, from 
which an offensive discharge proceeds. A not infre- 
quent cause is standing in wet places where the urine 
lodges and the feet becomes soaked and saturated in 
filth. Another cause that may produce thrush is the 
filthy and senseless practice of stopping the feet with 
cow-dung or other unclean substances. First, the foot 
should be kept clean and^ dry, and as a good aj)plication 
I may recommend a weak solution of blue vitriol. Some 
use butter of antimony and others salt. However, the 
best remedy I have ever known was given me by Mr. 
William Moore, of Albany, a clever horseman and a 
gentleman. Here it is : 

Red precipitate 1 ounce. 

Blue vitriol 1 ounce. 

Burnt alum ^ ounce. 

Powdered white sugar 1 ounce. 

Mix, and apply daily to the affected frog. 

Quarter cracks I believe to be sometimes caused by 
allowing the foot to grow long and tlie horn to become 
dried and hard, when the expansion of the foot at the 
coronet cracks the inelastic hoof below it. 

For the cure of quarter-crack I cut the horn away on 
either side of the crack, leaving a V-shaped incision, 
the apex of the V being at the lower extremity of the 
crack. Then I cut away the hoof from a little in front 
of the crack to the heel. Now I shoe Avith a bar-shoe, 
this making the other side of the foot and the frog 
bear the weight, none of which comes on tiie region 
immediately affected by the crack, leaving it free to 
grow out without W(jrking. The foot must be easily 



306 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

and carefully cut away without getting; into the sensi- 
tive parts. 

Tender feet, if naturally tender, are hardly suscepti- 
ble to any treatment, though often a Lockiepad shoe 
will prove effectual. I consider the Lockiepad shoe a 
great invention, and whether the feet be constitution- 
ally tender, or whether the trouble merely arises from 
a hard track, they are well worthy of trial. Almost 
every good a])pliance has its drawback, and the trouble 
with the Lockiepad is that you never know how much 
Aveight you are carrying, and in some cases a tendency 
to thrush may be caused by the pad. A horse so shod 
I stand in water, or wet the foot well twice a day, to 
allow the sponge to take up water. They must be 
often changed. The Lockiepad shoe should be taken 
off and the foot cleaned at least every two weeks. 
Then you can see how the foot is doing. If the 
slightest tendencv to thrush is discerned, they must be 
cast aside. The Lockiepad shoe will certainly often 
prove good on a hard track, and will many times be 
found the remedy where a horse refuses to extend him- 
self, for often a very slight soreness will "tie up" a 
horse. I used this shoe to advantage on Manzanita and 
Ilinda Eose, the latter going a mile in 2:23 at Lexing- 
ton, so shod. 

For a horse sore from trotting on hard tracks I have 
found the following liniment excellent. For it I am 
indebted to my friend George J. Fuller, the famous, 
driver of Patron : 

Linseed oil Bounces. 

Turpentine o . .4 ounces. 

Oil tar .6 ounces. 

Oil origanum 6 ounces. 



TENDKK FEKT. 307 

Mix. Apply with sponge around the hoof, over the 
bottom of the foot, and allow it to run in under the 
shoe, and into all the fissures of the foot. For a few 
days apply it twice a day and afterward once a day 
after work. 

Splints I believe ai-e most effectually treated by 
firing. I have found, as a rule, that if dotted with the 
firing iron soon after its appearance the splint will 
vanish. 

Sprung tendons I have most successfully treated by 
resting, getting the fever down, then applying iodine, 
and later tlie sugar of lead and laudanum leg wash. 

Only one word more on the subject of the scores of 
adments and injuries which beset the lives of horses in 
training. Don't try every remedy that is recom- 
mended, especially if dangerous ones. Try what some 
experienced man has found successful, and when you 
get a good thing keep a note of it for future reference. 



50S TRAINING THE TROTTING HOKSE. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE QUESTION OF BREEDING THE IMPORTANCE OF FORM 

AND ACTION ACTION SHOULD BE PURE " LINE-TROT- 
TING " STRUCTURE OF THE STALLION ACTION AND 

STRUCTURE OF DAJVI GOOD MARES OR NONE TROTTING 

BLOOD SHOULD BE GOOD DEVELOPED SPEED THOR- 
OUGHBRED BLOOD MUST BE CAREFULLY SELECTED AND 

GOOD ITS ADVANTAGES IN FINISH AND QUALITY, NOT 

IN GAMENESS VIEWING THE QUESTION WITHOUT PREJU- 
DICE PRACTICES IN BREEDING — TIME TOR BREEDING 

THE MARE — EXPERIENCES WITH SPRITE, DOLLY AND 

FLOWER GIRL TRYING AFTER BREEDING FOALING 

TIME AGE TO BREED MARES NUMBER STALLIONS 

SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO SERVE — DANGERS OF OVER- 
BREEDING, 

On no other single subject connected with the trot- 
ting horse has so much been written as on breeding, 
and on no other do opinions so widely differ. I do not 
propose to theorize on the subject, nor to treat it 
exhaustively, as my main subject is how to train the 
trotter rather than how to breed him; but I may 
briefly throw together the conclusions that have formed 
in my mind from extended observations with trotters. 

First, I hold there has been wide error, not, perhaps, 
in giving too much attention to blood, but in giving 
attention to blood to the exclusion of everything else. 
Form and action, I believe, have been too generally 



BREEDING. 3(>9' 

neglected, and especially is this true of action. 
Although it may seem paradoxical to say so, the gait I 
would consider perfection in a campaigner would not 
exactly suit me for a stock horse. I would prefer for a 
sire a horse with abundant and exuberant action, both 
before and behind, one with perfectly true and square 
stroke, and without a touch of mixing. I do not 
object to a horse starting on an amble, but when he 
trots let it be a trot. I do not care how a horse is bred, 
nor how good he is individually, if his action is faulty 
he would not suit me for a sire. A foul-gaited horse 
will get foul-gaited progeny, and that kind can never 
hold their own with evenly balanced trotters. Action 
is not the only thing in a sire, but it is aii essential for 
the absence of which notliing can atone. I believe that 
the chief reason why Smuggler has not been a greater 
success than he is as a sire, is because he had not the 
proper order of action. He had practically no hock 
action. I would expect of course the best results from 
Smuoo'ler when bred to mares with excessive action. 
The truest kind of action is what we may call Une- 
trottimj. The horse does not sprawl to get his hind 
feet outside of the front ones. The hind foot goes low, 
and the fore foot is lifted just high enough to let the 
hmd one go nnder, not outside of, the front one. I 
like a horse with a fairly wide chest, and the legs to 
stand well apart, and fall straight to the ground (not 
" both come out of one hole " like a saw-horse), and 
they should be especially well muscled. The idea that 
a narrow chest is favorable for speed, arose, I suppose, 
from the idea that a horse's hind feet must necessarily 
go outside of his front ones in trotting. It is certainly 
an error. 



310 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

I need not go into any lenothy description of what 
the form of an ideal stallion ought to be — you all know 
it. He should be of fair size, with a good, brainy, 
intelligent head, a strong, sloping shoulder; a round 
barrel, with a strong, springy loin ; quarters of great 
power, muscled well inside and out, strong gaskins and 
forearms ; square-set hocks and knees, short cannons, 
strong pasterns of medium angle, and good feet. Some 
will argue that long cannons are just as good as short 
ones — that a horse with a long cannon will stride just 
as far as a short-cannoned horse. That may be true, 
but I hold that all the driving power is above the hock, 
all the muscles run from that point upward, and the 
horse with the longest thigh has the greatest driving 
power, and more leverage to handle the leg and foot. 

In the dam I want also good action, but I would not 
be quite so exacting in her case as to having plenty of 
it, for, right or wrong, it is my belief that the sire gen- 
erally controls the action. Salhe Benton's dam had 
very little action ; Dame Winnie, the dam of Palo 
Alto, and Annette, the dam of Ansel, had not any to 
speak of, but they were mated with Electioneer, a 
horse of superabundant action. I would avoid a brood- 
mare, just as I would a sire, with faulty action. Let 
what they have be square, true and good. I like a 
brood-mare of moderate size. The dam of Manzanita 
stood only 14.3 ; the dam of Bonita, 14.2. Beautiful 
Bells and Dame Winnie are 15.2; May Queen, 15 
hands. I prefer mares of rather blocky build, and they 
should have good heads, tempers and dispositions. I 
need not say that soundness should be exacted in the 
brood-mare, and of course the more perfect the general 



FORM AND ACTION. 311 

form the better. The idea that any thing will do for 
a brood-mare is a fallacy of bygone days. If I were 
breeding trotters I woukl have good mares or none. 

In conclusion, I like the sire and dam to be devel- 
oped trotters, and the faster they can go the better. 
If they are natural trotters, and have in training shown 
great speed, together with good form and balance, from 
mating them you ai'e almost sure to get a trotter. 

As for the trotting blood you have, of course the 
richer the better. The best test of trotting blood is 
how. fast and how much it has trotted, and how many 
and how fast trotters it has produced. Any kind of 
blood is better than unknown blood. 

As to thoroughbred blood in the trotter — that sub- 
ject of endless discussion — I will try and give my views 
as briefly and as clearly as possible. Perhaps the best 
way to sum up my idea in a nutshell is to say that I 
want all the good thoroughbred blood that can be con- 
trolled. To say how much that may be is impossible. 
Electioneer may in some cases control fifty per cent — 
with some mares he might fail to do it— while some horses 
do not have the abilit}^ to control it at all. I believe 
that Mr. J. C. Sibley has put the whole thing in as con- 
cise and logical a form as possible in these words: 
"My judgment is that some horses will sire trotters 
from some thoroughbreds ; that no horse can sire trot- 
ters from some thoroughbreds, and that some horses 
cannot sire trotters from any thoroughbred." 

My experience has been, in training horses from 
thoroughbred mares, that their heads are as good as 
the average trotting-bred horse's head. This experi- 
ence has been, it is true, mostly with the get of Elec- 



312 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

tioneer, a sire with great brain-controlling force, and it 
may be that bad I handled the same number of half- 
bred horses by some other sire I might have found it 
different. Plowever, I am not telling what my experi- 
ences might have been, but what they were. The only 
"ugly" half-bred one I ever had to deal with was Ger- 
trude Eussell. She was ill-used and whipped, and after 
she came into my hands I got her fairly gentle, though 
she always jnilled. As far as breaking is concerned, 
they made "good breakers." Palo Alto trotted in 
2:12^ and 2:12^, with breaks in the mile, and you can 
not afford to make a very bad break to finish in 2:12^. 
Ansel trotted a mile in 2:20, with a break in it. Ger- 
trude Russell, Whips and Azmoor were good breakers. 
They would make a clear run and come back to the 
trot handily. The only bad breaker in the lot was 
Express, and he has improved. 

The advantages of thoroughbred blood, as they seem 
to me, are that it gives higher finish, better quality of 
bone, better joints, and superior wind and lung power. 
I do not base ray claims for thoroughbred blood on 
gameness. My belief is that gameness comes in great 
part from pure, frictionless action. It is practically a 
truth that speed mcikes gameness. 

"There are thoroughbreds and thoroughbreds." 
Some thoroughbreds have more trotting action than 
others. In selecting a thoroughbred mare to breed to 
a trotting stallion we pay great regard to form, action 
and head. Some thoroughbreds are more brainy and 
level-headed than others, and from one of these of the 
rio-ht conformation bred to a stallion like Electioneer, 
of great brain and action-controlling power, the chances 



THOROUGHBRED BLOOD. 313' 

of getting a high class trotter are good. I do not claim 
that you can get trotters as uniformly this way as by 
breeding from trotting mares, but 3'ou can, with the 
properly mated sire and dam, get horses of high class 
by this line of breeding horses, of great finish and 
hard, fine quality. We have, I think, demonstrated 
at Palo Alto that some horses at least can control the 
action of the thoroughbred, and where that can be 
done I have no hesitation in declaring my preference 
for a good dash of thoroughbred blood. 

I endeavor to regard all such matters without preju- 
dice. I have no quarrel with trotting blood, nor have 
I an}' fault to find with breeders who stick to trotting 
blood. But all candid men must admit that trotters 
come from all combinations, that there are more ways 
than one to breed them. I have no desire to aro-ue 
that one Avay is 'better than another — I only insist that 
"we have shown that high-class trotters can he bred 
with close and direct infusions of thoroughbred blood. 
I do not advise anv breeder to sell his trottin^-bred 
mares and buy half-bred or thoroughbred mares, nor 
do I advise him to patronize a stallion snnply because 
he has thoroughbred blood. But what I do advise is, 
that when you find a good horse or a good mare, a 
horse that is a trotter, or a mare that is a producer, 
that has plenty of thoroughbred blood, do not let that 
scare a^ou away from them, but rather value them the 
higher for it. My idea is to recognize merit wherever 
you see it, and when a stallion trots in 2:12|^, or even 
2:20, you need not fear that his thoroughbred blood 
will stop his progeny from trotting. 

But, as I have said, it is no part of my business to 



314 TRAININti THE TROTTING HOKSE. 

write about theories, or to take part here in the con- 
tention between the different schools of breeding. This 
Avork is more practical, and in pursuance thereof we 
Mill now suppose that you have selected your horse and 
inare, and are about to breed, in the fond hope of get- 
ting a Sunol or an Axtell. 

Having settled upon the stallion and mare, I would 
mate them as soon after February 15th as possible. 
Every day of life is an advantage to the colt that is 
expected to trot young, and when the time is counted 
by weeks and months the advantage is increased many- 
fold. I believe the mare is better if worked some. If 
possible I would work her moderately while carrying 
the foal, at least in the earlier months of pregnancy. 

We breed mares on the eighth or ninth day after 
foaling. Some will go out of use the eighth day. 
After the mare is bred we let her go out of use before 
breeding again. Whenever she comes in again Ave 
breed her, no matter how long or how short has been 
the interval. The season of 1888, after Sprite and 
Dollj^ were bred, we found that for three months they 
would take the horse any time they were bred. Dolly 
proved in foal, while S]')rite failed. Some mares will 
certainly welcome the stallion's embrace after they are 
in foal, so that the mare's accepting the horse cannot 
be taken for a certain indication in all cases that she 
has failed to hold. A couple of seasons since we bred 
Flower Girl once, and shortly afterward decided to 
ti-ain her, so that orders were given that if she came in 
again she was not to be put back to the horse. She 
€ame in use, and would have stood for the horse anv 
<lav. After we worked her awhile she would occasion- 



BREEDINt; THE MARK. 315 

ullv ffo dead lame in one hind le<i-, and finallv^ siie 
proved to be in foal. Tlie first season I came to Palo 
Alto, Aurora came into use early in March, and was 
bred. A few days later she slunk a colt, being in foal 
from a service the previous season ; and we have since 
had a similar case. These instances prove that a mare 
may take the horse at almost any period of pretrnancy. 

Our practice is to breed in the evening. If horses 
are used in the morning- they are excitable and rest- 
less all day; and mares also are cooler and calmer after 
an evening's service. I have no faith in artificial tricks 
to get mares to catch. Some throw cold water over 
the mare ; anotlier jabs an awl into her ear just at 
what he supposes the vital moment ; another has a 
theory about the moon. All this is nonsense of the 
witchcraft order. If the mare fails to hold after three 
or four services, it is well to "open" her, to see that 
the mouth of the womb is in proper place and condi- 
tion. Every breeder who breeds extensively should 
have a speculum, and acquaint himself, or have his fore- 
man acquaint himself, with the condition and position 
of the genital ormms of the mare, so that he can intelli- 
gently cope with any slight irregularity that may pre- 
vent conception. 

After we breed the mares we turn them out in a 
paddock until they go out of use. Then they are 
turned in with the others, and a horse is led among 
them every day to ascertain which require attention. 
Our trial days are the eighteenth after being bred, then 
again nine days later, and again nine days after that. AVe 
carefully keep account of the trial days of each mare, 
and try her particularly then. We breed her whenever 



316 TKAIXIXG THE TROTTING HORSE. 

she comes in, no matter what day ; but if they do not 
" show," as I have said, try them especially on their 
trial days. After the fourth trial day, if the mare fails 
to "show," we conclude that she is all right. Still, 
with all these precautions, I have known them to come 
into use again, say ninety days later. 

We carefulh^ watch mares about due to foal, and 
have at the farm twenty-five large foaling stalls. As 
soon, of course, as the youngsters are able to move 
around, we take them out to make room for other 
mares '' in an interesting condition." The dav after 
the colt is foaled we turn him out a little while in the 
sun with his dam. The mare should be fed such food 
as will keep her bowels free, and the colt's bowels must 
also be got working. You may have to give him a 
"warm water injection before he is an hour old. 

I would not at first put more than three or four 
mares with foals in tlio same ]:)addock. At first the 
mares are nervous, and will fight off anything that 
comes near ; after the colts get older, of course, more 
can be put together. 

Here we can leave the voungster, for you will remem- 
ber that it was at this point that I took him up in my 
first chapter on training. 

I do not believe in breeding mares under four years 
old ; I think it stunts the mare's growth, and the colt 
is not so apt to be good. I think that while the mare 
is growing she needs all her strength, and cannot, with- 
out injury, give nourishment to the colt. 

For a two-year-old stallion I think three or four 
mares are really beneficial. I would not give him 
more than six, and they should be well distributed over 
the season. 



OVER SERVICE. 317 

For a three-j'^ear-old stallion twenty mares should 
be the outside limit, and they should be well dis- 
tributed, too. 

A four-year-old stallion can comfortably cover thirty 
to thirty-five mares, and at five years old he should 
take a full season. I believe fifty mares furnish a 
heavy enough season for an}^ horse to make. 

I would especially guard aoainst the dangers of over- 
breeding. We often wonder why the progeny of the 
same horse and mare differ so widely — why there are 
such variations between brothers and sisters. I believe 
if we could be sure that the sire and dam were always 
in the same condition, and always had the same com- 
parative and relative vigor, we could breed with great 
uniformity. There is no doubt in my mind that the 
character of the colt is largely determined by the 
condition of the parents at the time of conception. If 
the sire's vigor be sapped by too much stud-service you 
can hardlv expect the colt to be uniform Avith one 
begotten in a state of full vigor. I suppose the reader 
means, as a breeder, to aim at great results, rather than 
great numbers. To that end it is certaiid}' enough to 
let a horse serve once a dav ; and indeed I would prefer 
that he is used only on alternate days, if practicable. 
Certainly, one good colt is worth ten ordinai-y ones ; 
and if it be true, as I verilv believe, that moderation in 
the use of stallions will result in better progeny, then 
it is very poor economy to yield to the temptation to 
overdo it. With all the care that can be exercised you 
will get enough common ones, but no one can doubt 
that the sapped condition that over-service produces 
must prove detrimental to a stallion's success as a sire. 



31 S TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

NEARING THE END — A TRIBUTE TO ELECTIONEER — HIS BREED- 
ING, HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS HIS SPEED HIS 

ROLL OF HONOR AND RANK AS A SIRE — THE ELEC- 
TIONEER ACTION THE ELECTIONEERS AS CAMPAIGN- 
ERS — GENERAL BENTON PIEDMONT NEPHEW THE 

ST. CLAIRS THE BEOIONTS THE MOORS NUTWOOD 

GUY WILKES — A. W. RICHMOND AU RETOIR. 

I HAVE now covered almost all the ground contem- 
plated at the outset of this work. I have given my 
experiences with the most noted horses I have driven ; 
have told how they were trained ; have elucidated, as 
fully and explicitly as it seems in my power, the meth- 
ods of teaching colts to trot that have been so success- 
ful at Palo Alto; have explained how they are fed, 
kept, shod, worked and driven, and have given my 
views on the practical aspects of breeding. Taking up 
the colt at his birth, we have traveled, as it Avere, in a 
circle back to the starting point, and all that remains 
to comjilete the programme on which we started out is 
to devote a chapter to Electioneer and other horses and 
families of California. 

A thousand things remain to be said, and dozens of 
topics of varying importance in *• horseology ' ' have 
been neo-lected : but no man has ever vet covered all 
horse knowledge in one volume, and I was not foolish 
enough to attempt to do it. I have striven to condense 



ELECTIONEER. 310 

the things of greatest importance concerning the trot- 
ting-horseman into a vohime of convenient size, and 
trust that in a fair measure I have succeeded. 

My greatest success, as the world knows, has been 
with the get of Electioneer, and while it would be but 
affectation to say that I am not conscious of having 
done considerable to help his reputation, I have no 
doubt he has done, in giving me the material I have 
had to work with, much for mine. So in this chapter 
a little tribute to him is only scant justice from me. 

Electioneer is a dark bay horse, standing 15.2 hands 
high, and was bred b}^ Charles Backman, at his stud 
farm at Stony Ford, New York. He was foaled May 
2, 1868, and came to Palo Alto in the fall of 1876. 
His sire was Rysdyk's Hambletonian, the greatest 
progenitor of trotters, and his dam was Green Mount- 
ain Maid, "the great mother of trotters," over whose 
grave a monument stands at Stony Ford. She was by 
Harry Clay, 2:29, out of Shanghai Mary, whose lineage 
is enfolded in m3'stery, but whose blood must, from 
what she was and what her daughter was, have had a 
strain of sterling richness in it. Among Green Mount- 
ain Maid's famous children, besides Electioneer, are 
Prospero, 2:20 ; Elaine, 2:20 ; Dame Trot, 2:22 ; Elista, 
2:22|; Mansfield, 2:26; Storm, 2:26|; Antonio, 2:2S|, 
and Miranda, 2:31. She is the dam of more trotters 
that have trotted in 2:30 or better than any mare that 
has ever lived ; and she also produced in Electioneer 
the greatest sire of trotters that has ever lived. 

Electioneer, as his picture shows, is a stout and com- 
pacth' built horse. I have above given his height at 
15.2 measured at the wither. He is an inch hifiher 



320 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

behind, and in this conformation many of his progeny 
follow him, notably Sunol. His head is well propor- 
tioned and of fair size, and is a model of intelligence 
and beaut\^ His brainy head acconnts for the heads 
of his children — beautiful in shape and level in balance. 
He has a good shoulder, splendid barrel, faultless back, 
and simply the best quarters I ever saw on a stallion. 
There you see the perfection of driving power. His 
forearms and gaskins are heavily muscled, his joints 
clean and sound, and his legs and feet natural]}" of 
first-class quality. He is, in short, a stout and smooth 
horse of the solid type, combining in structure great 
l^ower with elegant proportion and pleasing finish at 
every point. 

As a three-year old he was broken at Stony Ford 
and worked some to wagon. Mr. Charles Backman, 
"whose word is good enough authority for anything, 
states that he timed him quarters to wagon in thirty- 
eight seconds, with little work. To some this may 
be surprising ; to me it is not, for I know his great 
natural speed. 

Electioneer is the most natural trotter I have ever 
seen. He has free, abundant action; it is a perfect 
rolling action both in front and behind, and he has not 
the usual fault of the Hambletonians, of going too wide 
behind. Certain writers have said that Electioneer 
could not trot, and have cited him as a stallion that 
was not a trotter, 3'et got trotters. All the comment 
I have to make on this is that I have driven, beside 
Electioneer, a quarter better than thirtv-hve seconds; 
and though this may not be fast enough to suit the 
critics of Electioneer, I call any horse that can speed 



I'' 



:^i;, 




:" .b".^ 



■•1'^ 



u 
w 

o 

p 
o 






HIS KOLL OF HONOR. 321 

faster than a 2:20 gait a trotter. He did this, too, 
hitched to a 125-pound wagon, with a 220-pound man 
— and not a professional driver, either — in the seat. In 
this rig lie could carry Occident right up to his clip, 
and could always keep right with him ; and it was no 
trick for the famous St. Clair gelding to go a quarter 
in thirty four seconds. Without preparation you could 
take out Electioneer in stud condition any day and 
drive him an eighth of a mile at a 2:20 gait. He 
always had his speed with him, and this is a character- 
istic of his sons, and to my mind one of great impor- 
tance to breeders. Tliat Electioneer could have beaten 
2:20 if given a regular preparation is, with me, a con- 
viction about which no doubt exists. 

As a sire I believe him to be the greatest of all trot- 
ting sires. He began his stud services in California in 
1877, his family beginning in 1878, and here is his roll 
•of honor: 

YEARLING. 

Hinda Rose (fastest wlien made) 2:36|^ 

TWO-YEAR-OLDS. 

Sunol (fastest to date) 2:18 

Wild Flower (fastest when made) 2:21 

Bonita 2:24* 

Fred Crocker (fastest when made) 2:25*^ 

Bel] Boy 2 :26 

Carrie C 2:27^ 

Pedlar 2:27f 

Palo Alto Belle 2:28^ 

Sphinx 2:29i 

Del Mar 2:30 

THREE-YEAR-OLDS. 

Sunol (fastest to date) 2:10i 

Bell Boy 2:19i 



322 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

Hinda Rose (fastest wlien made) 2 :19^ 

Palo Alto Belle 2:22^ 

Campbell's Electioneer 2:22^ 

Maiden , 2:23 

Manzanita <, 2:23:J^ 

Rexford 2:24 

Sphinx 2:24i- 

Hattie D 2:26f 

Grace Lee 2 :29i 

FOUR- YE AR - OLDS. 

Manzanita (fastest to date) 2:16 

Bonita 2:18f 

Antevolo 2:19i 

Palo Alto 2:20i 

Albert W 2:22^ 

Albert W. (two miles) 4:51 

Spliinx 2:23 

Lot Slocum 2:23i 

Gov. Stanford 2:23f 

Carrie C 2:24 

Clifton Bell 2:24^ 

St. Bel 2:24 

Mortimer 2:27 

Egotist 2 :29 

Ella 2 :29 

Azmoor „ 2:30 

FIVE-YEAR-OLDS. 

Lot Slocum 2:17 

Gertrude Russell 2:23i 

Clay 2:25 

Emaline 2:27+ 

Cubic 2:2Si 

SIX- YEAR OLDS. 

Anteeo 2:16^ 

Lot Slocum 2:17i 

Adair 2:17i 

Old Nick 2 :23 

Carrie C 2:24^ 



WHAT HOUSE CAN COMPARE? 323 

Azmoor 2:24| 

Morca 2:25 

Express 2:29^ 

Arbutus 2:30 

SEVEN-YEAR-OLDS. 

Palo Alto 2:12i 

Norval 2:17^ 

Adair , 2:17i 

Bonita 2:18i 

Ansel 2:20 

Albert W 2:20i 

Express 2:21 

Juiiio 2:22 

Peruvian Bitters (pacer) 2:23^ 

Arbutus 2:24i 

Whips 2:27f 

EIGHT-YEAR-OLDS. 

Albert W 2 :20 

Elector 2 :21i 

Stella 2:23i 

Eros , 2:28i 

Fallis 2:28^ 

Commotion 2 :30 

NINE- YEAR-OLDS. 

Old Nick 2:23 

Arol .2:24 

TEN-YEAR-OLDS. 

Fallis 2:23 

I ask any man conversant with the records to answer 
me candidly this question : What horse has to his 
credit, from an equal time in the stud, achievements 
that can be compared to these? There can only be 
one answer. jSTo horse has ever before even apjiroached 
the marvelous record of Electioneer in the stud. 

The action of the Electioneers is characteristic. 
They are mostly prompt, round-gaited horses, and 



324 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

straight-line trotters. They do not have to "square 
away " or " strike a position " to get up speed. As a 
rule the}^ are close-gaited ; and very few indeed are of 
that class that are called "open-gaited." The majority 
of them do not throw the hind foot outside of the fore 
foot in trotting, but, on the line-trotting principle, "go 
under." They do not have to go a mile or so to get 
untangled ; they trot low, have no waste action, and 
gather speed quickly and smoothly. 

The statement so often made by those who know 
little about them, that the Electioneers are not game 
horses, sounds very absurd to one who knows how 
easil}' they trot, how great is their natural S])eed, and 
bow perfectly they are balanced, carrying little or no 
Aveio;ht. The same charg-e has been made ao-ainst all 
families, and perhaps it is not worth repelling ; but I 
ma}" claim to know the Electioneers as well as any 
man, and as campaigners they are good enougli for me. 
They are good feedei's, cheerful dispositioned horses, 
that take their work well, and have the quality of 
race-horses. I consider them, in this respect, the equal 
of any of our trotting families. I have seen horses 
that lacked heart, and I have trained a faint-hearted 
horse, but I have yet to see the first Electioneer against 
Avhich the charge can in justice be made. Wildflower 
and Manzanita were not bred from mares that would 
]3opularly be expected to throw game performers, but 
a gamer mare than Wildflower never looked through 
a bridle. She would respond to every call to the last 
inch of her capacity. The same is true of Manzanita. 
She trotted frequently when out of condition, but when 
anywhere near at herself no horse of her age could 



THE WILKES FAMILY, 325 

beat her at any distance, and she would go on lier 
courage to the extreme limit of her abilit}'. Her four- 
\^ear-old record was made in the third heat of a race, 
and stands unbeaten. 

The Wilkes' are claimed to be the greatest of cam- 
paigning families ; but a recent writer proved by tabu- 
lating the records that wliile the 2:30 trotters, by 
George Wilkes, won 34 per cent, of their races, the 
2:30 trotters, by Electioneer, won 43 per cent, of 
theirs ; and against 2:24 and a fraction, as the average 
record of the Wilkes', he found 2:22 and a fraction to 
be the average record of the Electioneers. These 
racing statistics certainly look as though the Elec- 
tioneers raced successfully. Another writer, some time 
ago, exploded the exaggerated ideas that have been 
afloat about the opportunities of Electioneer. It has 
been said that "hundreds" of his get were trained and 
broken down at Palo Alto. The w^riter was given 
access to the Palo Alto books, and his tables made 
therefrom showed that at the close of 1888 the total 
number of foals bred at Palo Alto, and got by Elec- 
tioneer, was 235 ; that 139 were trained more or less ; 
and that of these ninety-one, or over Goi; per cent, had, 
nnder the watch, shown the ability to trot in 2:30 or 
better. These stud statistics show with what uniformity 
Electioneer gets speed, and what is better, early and 
extreme speed — and they furnish ample basis for my 
belief that he produces a larger percentage of animals 
naturallv gifted with the ability to trot in 2:30 or 
better than any horse that ever lived. 

The owner of a great horse in Kentucky — over the 
honored dust of both owner and horse the blue-grass 



326 TRAINING THE TROTTINCI IIOKSE. 

is growing — was wont to pnnuUy call him " The Great 
Sire of Trotters," and the lofty distinction was not 
undeserved ; but when Electioneer's days are done, 
justice will record that in his grave lies The Greatest 
Sire of Trotters. 

Gen. Benton was what may be called an action- 
controlling sire. He was speedy himself, and trans- 
mitted high I'ates of speed. His force in controlling 
action is shown by the fact that out of the thorough- 
bred Dame AVinnie he got I>ig Jim, 2:22.V, and out of 
other thoroughbred mares he got daughters that are 
producing speed. From the race-mare AVaxy, he got 
AVaxana, a nuire that was never regularlv trained, but 
could show about a 2:J:0 gait. By Electioneer she i)ro- 
duced Sunol, 2:10^. The Bentons have about the 
average order of action in front, but behind they go 
low and wide, indeed somewhat " sprawling." The}" 
come to their speed quickly, but, as a rule, they were 
too growth V to train voung. The blood of Gen. 
Benton will be valued more in the future than it has 
been. It carries speed, finish and resolution. The 
daughters of Benton, I predict, will yet rank among 
the most fashionable brood-mares. 

Piedmont, 2:17^, is just beginning to make his 
reputation as a sire. He was a great race-horse, fast 
and game. It is the fortune of some horses to be over- 
rated on the turf, but Piedmont was always under- 
rated when he was campaigning. He won in ISSl, in 
Chicago, the greatest race ever trotted between a lot 
of stallions, and he outlasted and defeated the greatest 
field of campaigning stallions that ever faced a starter. 
But even his trainer, Peter Johnston, had no idea he 



PIEDMONT AND XEPHEW. 327 

■\vas as good as he was that day. lie had been set 
down so often by the clever men as "a duffer" that 
probably his driver half believed it. But he met 
Itobert McGregor, Santa Claus, Hannis, the resolute 
Wedgewood, and the two-miler, Monroe Chief, fought 
for every heat, and beat thera in the fourth, fifth and 
sixth heats in 2:lTi, 2:19^, 2:21. 

He is a rather large horse to exactly suit me as a 
stock-horse, and his get are so growthy that they don't 
take kindly to early training. But like their sire, the\" 
are good race-horses when you get them trained. 
They incline to be prompt and tvapin'-gaited. with 
much of the Almont order of action. Piedmont is the 
most intelligent horse I have ever known. I worked 
him some and could drive him at any gait desired by 
simply talking to him. He had far more speed than 
his record shows. I drove him with the lines laying 
on his back a quarter in 0:33, and I saw him driven a 
quarter in 0:32. 

Xephew, the other aged Palo Alto stallion, will, I 
think, prove successful, though I have hardly had experi- 
ence enough with his get as yet to speak fully. They 
show well in the kindergarten, and act like colts that 
will make early trotters. Such as have appeared on the 
turf have proved good campaigners, as would be 
expected from Nephew's breeding, he being by Ham- 
brino, 2:21^ (by Edward Everett), out of Trotting 
Sister, by Alexander's Abdallah. 

Of the other more notetl Californian families, I need 
only speak very briefly concerning their general 
characteristics. 

The St. Clairs are compact, smooth horses, gaited 



328 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

much like the Electioneers, and they all had some 
degree of speed. They have good legs and feet, are 
easily kept, and are naturally hardy. The family of 
the old pacer, whose history I have already given, first 
came into notice as excellent work-horses. Railway 
contractors would take them in preference to any 
other breed for work. 

The family of George M. Patchen Jr., 2:27, showed 
excessive knee-action, and indeed lots of action all 
around. A great many of them were gross, coarse 
horses ; but judiciously crossed the blood is a valuable 
strain. 

The Belmonts were in form more like trotting-horses 
than race-horses, and some of them did trot and pro- 
duce trotters. Owen Dale and DonYictor both had a 
fair degree of trotting-action. The latter I saw trot a 
mile in 3:12 at twenty years old, and few thorough- 
breds can do that. He was a fair race-horse, but was 
afterward used as a doctor's hack. Mrs. Marvin 
drove him in his late years, and found him a good 
road-hoi-se. Williamson's Belmont, the founder of the 
family, was a thoroughbred son of American Boy, and 
was brought to California in 1853, and died in 1865. 
He left a great famil}^ botii as race-horses and general 
road-horses. This is a favorite strain in California, 
and a trotting-pedigree can have no better foundation 
to rest on than Belmont blood. 

The Moor founded one of the greatest of California 
families — horses noted for good, clean, sound legs and 
feet, solid colors and excellent form. The Moors are 
uniformly trotters, and, as a rule, are game, resolute 
horses. They are generally built on the greyhound 



THE MOOR AND NUTWOOD. 329^ 

order, the most objectionable feature being their 
heads, which are often large, and nearly always of the 
Koman order. Many of them are strong-willed and 
rattle-headed. The most noted descendants of The 
Moor are his daughter Beautiful Bells, his grandson 
Stamboul, and Sable Wilkes, whose dam was a 
daughter of The Moor. The blood of The Moor is a 
grand, speedy, fashionable strain in a pedigree, and 
one that is now widely appreciated. He died young, 
leaving few foals, but had in him the elements of 
greatness. 

Xutwood spent part of his life in California, but had 
few good mares here. He left an excellent family on 
the coast, considering the number and class of mares 
he had. Like every family that has ever showed 
speed enough to excite criticism, the Nutwoods at first 
had the reputation of " stopping," and if it were true' 
it would be no discredit to the horse, for that horse 
has not yet lived that can get uniformly good horses 
out of inferior mares. But I have not discovered the 
"stop" among the jSTutwoods. Woodnut did not seem 
to stop to any great extent. The fact is that the Nut- 
woods are one of the very best trotting families we 
have, and his daughters are highly valued, and 
properly so, as brood-mares in California. 

The famous Guy Wilkes is hardly yet old enough to 
speak of with confidence as a sire ; but we all know he 
was a good race-horse himself, and in Lillian Wilkes, 
Eegal Wilkes and Sable Wilkes he has got youngsters 
that mark him as probably one of the great coming 
sires. In the opinion of many good judges he is the 
best of all AVilkes horses. 



330 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

I have had little opportunity to form an opinion 
concerning the Blackbird family. The A. W. Rich- 
monds were certainly hardy horses, bat there were not 
many natural trotters among them, though those that 
were good were real good. The famous mare Colum- 
bine, by A. W. Richmond, had considerable speed, and 
being the dam of Anteeo, 2:1 6|, and Antevolo, 2:19^, 
has the distinction of being the only mare that has 
ever produced two stallions with records of 2:20 or 
better. 

This book would not seem complete without some 
historical sketch of the American trotting-horse, for 
the benefit of such of m}'- readers as have not studied 
the subject from a historical standpoint. But I have 
traveled over a pretty long road, and, having endeav- 
ored to the best of my abilit}^ to do my part, I will 
hand over the history to my co-worker, Mr. Macleod, 
and thanking all my readers for the compliment of 
their attention, will, with the sincerest wishes for the 
trotting-horse and all his friends, in the present and the 
future, make my retiring bow. 



APPENDIX. 331 



APPENDIX. 



THE TROTTING-HORSE HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED. 

The trotting-liorse may in all propriety be designated the national 
liorse of America, just as the thoroughbred race-horse is the national 
horse of Great Britain. In England the race-horse has reached his 
highest development, and if the race-horses of other countries have 
excelled, it has been in a great degree through the influence of liberal 
drafts of English blood. In like manner, but in greater degree, the 
trotting-horse is the national horse of America. He is distinctively 
and peculiarly an American production. In no other land has the 
trotter been generally bred; in no other land has he been brought to 
high development as a breed, nor in any other land has he been 
accepted and utilized as specially and superiorly adapted to the every- 
day uses of the people. It is true that Russia has her Orloff trotters; 
that writers speak of "Norfolk trotters" in England a century ago, 
and that in France, Austria and Australia native horses race at the 
trotting-gait, though they never approach the speed of the American 
trotter. Though vastly sui)erior to any trotter of foreign origin — or 
perhaps it would be more correct to call him the only trotter of for- 
eign origin — the OrlofE does not hold the place in the sporting and 
business affairs of the Rus.sian people held by the American trotting- 
bred horse in this country. As to the "Norfolk trotters" of Eng- 
land, the more that is learned of them the less certain can we be that 
it is at all correct to regard them as a breed of trotters. It can of 
course be shown that some of them had speed at the trot far superior 
to that of the ordinary English horse; but this hardly entitles the 
variety to be called a breed of trotters, but rather, to be classed as 
suitable raw material from which, by selection and development 
through a series of generations, a trotting-breed might have been 
evolved. 



332 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

It is to be remembered, in discu sing the trotter from the stand- 
point of the average American farmer, that he is something more 
than a racing-animal. He is the ideal horse of business and pleasure. 
No driving-horse in the world rivals the trotting bred horse, and they 
range in size from the neatest style of light-harness animal to coach- 
ing stature. The horse best adapted to the uses of the American 
farmer, and the average American citizen who uses horses at all, is 
the one that, with other essentials, combines quick, far-reaching, 
well-balanced action with the endurance to sustain speed at high 
rates and long distances. These, too, are the qualities primarily re- 
quired in a horse for racing purposes, and thus the blood best for the 
trotting turf is the best blood from which to breed the horse of the 
road, the park and the boulevard — the horse for the lightest single 
driving equipage, for the family phaeton or for double harness. 
Qualities required for these eminently proper purposes are produced 
in the highest degree by the best trotting-blood. We can only deter- 
mine what the best trotting-blood is by the measure of turf tests and 
turf history. The fact should not be forgotten by those who may 
have no interest in the American trotter in a turf sense that the value - 
of the light-harness horse rests in a large degree upon the purity and 
quality of his blood, and that the worth of blood can only be deter- 
mined by what it has accomplished under the turf test. 

To persons accustomed to horses the differences of the various 
gaits are familiar, but to fix them clearly in the mind is a first neces- 
sity in studying the subject of breeding horses in which value 
depends on speed at a certain gait. The walk, the trot or the pace, 
and the gallop are gaits common to all breeds. The pace, or amble, 
is a gait kindred to the trot and is a faster gait than the trot. The 
order of movement in the trot is left fore foot, right hind foot, 
right fore foot, left hind foot. Thus the left fore and right hind 
foot move in unison, striking the ground together; then in turn 
right fore foot and left hind foot complete the revolution, and, 
therefore, the trot is properly called the "diagonal gait." The 
pacer, like the trotter, moves two feet in the same direction simul- 
taneously, then alternates with the other two, but in place of the 
fore leg and the hind leg of opposite sides, he moves in unison 
the fore and hind leg of one side, then the fore and hind leg of 
the other side. Thus we call the pace the " lateral gait." The dif- 
ference of the gaits is not great; the mechanism is practically the 
same. The fact that the same animals pace and trot fast, that 



APPE>'DIX. 333 

pacing parents beget trotting progeny, and vice versa, and tliat both 
gaits frequently seem natural to tlie same animal demonstrates tliat 
they are but variations of the same gait, occupying in the economy 
of action a place between the walk and the gallop. The fast gallop, 
or run, is an entirely different gait; each leg acts, as it were, inde- 
pendently. To begin the revolution the horse makes his bound with 
the left fore foot the last to leave the ground; then for a moment 
he is entirely in the air, with his four feet rather bunched, and 
when he strikes ground again it is first with his right hind foot; then 
a moment more, and he is poised on the left fore foot, as at the 
beginning of the revolution. It will be seen that this gait is wholly 
and radically different from the pace and trot; that the order of 
action, and, necessarily, the mental organization governing the 
method of locomotion and use of the limbs are different. Hence no 
one horse is, or can be, possessed of great speed at the gallop, and 
also great speed at the trot or pace. To possess great speed of 
either one of these two orders he must inherit speed of that order. 

Let us consider for a moment the original sources of trotting 
speed at home and abroad. 

The Orloff trotters are the fastest of foreign breeds, and their 
hi.story is therefore of interest. In 1773, Count Alexis Orloff, a com- 
mander in the Russian tleet, obtained from a Turkish pasha a large 
Avhite Arab or Barb horse called Smetanka. From a Danish mare 
Smetanka got Polkan, and from a Dutch mare Polkan got Barss, the 
founder of the Orloff trotters. It will be noted that Barss was two 
removes from the Oriental horse, and cai-ried one-quarter of his 
blood. The fact has been commented upon that Andrew Jackson, 
the founder of our Clay family of trotters, was similarly bred ; 
that is, he was two removes from the imported Barb, Grand Bashaw, 
and, like Barss, out of a mare of unnamed blood. Count Orloff, it 
appears, bred the Barss blood upon itself, and- a writer, 8])eaking 
with the apparent assurance of one who knows, tells us that "the 
race became a distinct type in about thirty years, and since that 
period all attempts to improve the breed by fresh blood, whether 
Arab, English, French or Dutch have failed." This can readily be 
believed, for in our own horse history we find its corroboration and 
analogy. Count Orloff died in 1808, but his stud wrs kept intact 
until 1845, when it was broken up, the Russian Imperial Govern- 
ment becoming the owner of the greater part. The blood and per- 
formances of these horses have been carefully recorded. The 



331 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

liigliest rate of speed known to have been attained by an Orloff was 
in trotting three versts in five minutes. A verst being 1,166| yards, 
it will be seen that the performance was at the rate of a mile in 
about 2:3H. Though some specimens of the OrlofE trotter were 
brought to the United States, meeting trotting-blood superior to 
their own, they naturally failed to leave their mark on our breed. 

The only reputed trotters mentioned by English writers were 
certain horses located chiefly in the county of Norfolk. John Law- 
rence, the earliest writer who mentions them, and a most entertain- 
ing one, declares that "the renowned Blank may be looked upon as 
the father of trotters, since from his son Shales have proceeded the 
best and greatest number of horses of that qualification." One of the 
most famous of this tribe was Marshland Shales, a noted trotter that 
sold for over 3,000 guineas at auction in 1812, when ten years old. 
Records of the speed of these old English trotters are indefinite and 
uncertain, but it is said that a mare named Phenomenon trotted in July, 
1800, seventeen miles in 56:00, and in the same month repeated the 
performance in 53:00. If this be true, this mare was the superior of 
any American trotter, not of her day alone, but for many years after 
her day. When we remember that this was at the rate of twenty 
miles in 62:20, and that it was not until 1849 that Trustee, in America, 
covered twenty miles in 59:35i, the conclusion is forced upon us that 
the English had the material from which to build and evolve a great 
breed of trotters. That they have nothing equal to Phenomenon in 
these days is certain, and the cause of this retrogression is probably 
that the trotting instinct and action in the horses of the olden time 
has been subuierged by repeated infusions of running-blood, just as 
the ancient English pacer disappeared before the tides of Oriental 
blood upon which the English thoroughbred is founded. The chief 
and, indeed, only interest attaching to the Norfolk trotter is in the 
fact that it is practically certain that imported Bell founder, the sire 
of the dam of Rysdyk's Hambletonian, the greatest of all American 
trotting progenitors, was one of this tribe. This horse was imported 
from England in 1822, and was a powerful animal with gigantic 
quarters, showy trotting action, and kindly disposition. Hamble- 
tonian bore much resemblance to him in form and disposition. 

So much for foreign trotters — now as to the American breed. The 
imported horse whose blood played the most important part in found- 
ing the trotting-breed in the United States, was the grey race-horse Mes- 
senger. Ever since trotting-speed began to be considered a mark of 



APPENDIX, 335 

merit in tlie American horse, Messenger has been admitted the chief 
foundation on which the greatest trotting families have been built. But 
just as the English race horse was founded on Oriental blood, and in 
years of selection and development for a special purpose was bred to 
a point of excellence unknown to the Oriental, so the most unpre- 
tentious trotting-blood of to-day is superior to what the direct blood 
of Messenger was. 

The speed-transmitting power of Messenger, if it could be now 
drawn upon directly, would be a weak and sluggish element in the 
swift and intense speed currents of to-day. Still none the less did it 
play its part as an original source. 

Messenger was a grey horse foaled in 1780, bred by John Pratt of 
Newmarket, England, and, according to the English Stud-Book, was 
got by Mambrino, out of a daughter of Turf. Mambrino was by 
Engineer, son of Samp.son, by Blaze, by Flying Childers, son of the 
Darley Arabian, a horse imported into England from the Levant, in 
the reign of Queen Anne. Turf, the reputed sire of the dam of Mes- 
senger, was by Matchem, son of Cade, by the (iodolphin Arabian. 

Messenger was a fair race-horse but was not strictly thoroughbred, 
and when we reflect what he accomplished in the production of horses 
of speed superior to any of their day at the trotting-gait, we are almost 
irresistibly forced to the conclusion that in the streams of unknown 
and uncertain blood remotely pouring into his inheritance some subtle 
influence was carried that favored the trotting-gait. Indeed this is 
not mere speculation, but history; for in Pick's Turf Register we find 
this statement concerning Mambrino, the sire of Messenger: " Mam- 
brino was likewise sire of a great many excellent hunters and strong, 
useful road-horses. And it has been said that from his blood the 
breed of horses for the coach was brought nearly to perfection." 

Messenger was imported to Philadelphia in 1788; was kept in 
Pennsylvania and New Jersey for the first six years of his life in 
America, and was variously kept on Long Island, in Dutchess, West- 
chester and Orange Counties, New York, and in New Jersey, until his 
death near Oyster Bay, Long Island, in 1808. As to what degree of 
trotting-action Messenger possessed we have no evidence; but this 
much is certain, that he left progeny noted for their speed and endur- 
ance on the road, and Avhen in these descendants this road-gait was 
developed and intensified by use — and they were mated with a view 
to producing progeny superior in this special qualification to them- 
selve.s — each generation naturally reached a higher plane of excel- 
lence than its predecessors. 



336 TRAINING thp: trotting horse. 

Tliough in tlie second and tliird generations we find many descend- 
ants of Messenger noted as trotters in their time, and figuring fre- 
quently in the trotting genealogies of our day, it is incompatible with 
the purposes and extent of this article to consider any but the chief 
lines — those upon which the place in history of Messenger's blood as 
a source of the greatest trotting-faniilies chiefly depend. His three 
most noted sons were Winthrop Messenger, Bishop's Hambletonian 
and Mambrino. 

Winthrop Messenger was taken to Maine in 1816, and was the 
founder of that sterling race frequently spoken of as the Maine Mes- 
sengers. He was a large, coarse horse, and was, I judge, very little 
appreciated in his time. Among the best descendants was his son 
Witherell Messenger, sire of Belle of Portland, 2:26. A daughter of 
Witherell Messenger, mated with a son of his, produced the famous 
Belle Strickland, 2:26. Six other daughters figure in the records as 
the dams of trotters with records faster than 2:30. Fanny Pullen, 
daughter of Winthrop INIessenger, was a great trotter in her time, 
and to imported Trustee she produced the famous Trustee that 
trotted in 1848 twenty miles in 59:35i. He was the first horse to trot 
twenty miles within the hour; to this day only six have done it, and 
it is earnestly to be desired by every decent horseman that no horse 
will ever again be subjected to this cruel exaction. 

Bishop's Hambletonian, originally called Hambletonian, was a bay 
horse, foaled 1804, bred by General Coles, at Dosoris, Long Island, 
and was by imported Messenger, out of Pheasant, by imported Shark. 
He was a race-horse quite nearlj' first class, especially at long dis- 
tances, being successful at four miles. He was the best of all Mes- 
senger's progeny as a race-horse, if we except Miller's Damsel, the 
dam of American Eclipse. As a sire of trotters and trotting-progeni- 
tors he won distinction. One of the ruost gifted of early turf writers, 
who wrote with singular severity of this horse, conceded that "he 
got some excellent roadsters, good trotters," but iirobably in so 
speaking of the race-horse the writer meant to be anything but 
complimentary . 

Among the progeny of Bishop's Hambletonian, the most distin- 
guished on the trotting-turf were the famous Whalebone, and 
another early trotter of less note, Sir Peter. In 1830 and 1831 the 
former ranked with the best of his day as a long distance trotter, and 
has to his credit a performance of thirty-two miles in 1 :58:05. Daugh- 
ters of Bishop's Hambletonian produced Paul Fry and Topgallant, 



• APPENDIX. 337 

both being by other sons of Messenger, and they were the first trot- 
ters of their time. The latter trotted three miles in 8:11 in 1839. 
The most noted progenitors of trotters left by Bishop's Hambletonian 
were his sons, Harris' Ilaniljletonian and Judson's Haml)let()nian. 
The former sired Green Mountain Maid, 2:28^; Hero, pacing- record, 
2:20|, and others of less note. A son of his sired Joker, 2:22J, and 
.six of his daughters have produced trotters. Maj. Edsall, the sire of 
Robert McGregor, 2:17i, was out of a daughter of Harris' Hamble- 
tonian, as was also Cuyler, Stillson, and other sires of note yet living. 
Judson's Hambletonian was less distinguished than Harris', but his 
blood enters into several lines, the most prominent being through his 
son, Andrus' Hambletonian, the sire of the trotting-mare. Princess, 
that, after meeting the best campaigners of her day, from the Pacific 
to the Atlantic, made still more firm her rank in the records as the 
dam of Happy Medium, one of the greatest trotting- sires the world 
has yet produced. 

Coming to Mambrino, in a trotting-sense the greatest son of Mes- 
senger, we reach the keystone of our subject, for from his loins came 
two lines, the greatest in all trotting-history. One son of Mambrino 
gave us the sterling Mambrino Chief family of trotters; another got 
Rysdyk's Hambletonian, far and away the greatest of all trotting- 
progenitors. The latter founded a trotting-family with which none 
can compare, and to which none approach, and his blood has, it is 
truly said, " raised the trotting-horse of America to the highest point 
of excellence." Mambrino Paymaster, son of Mambrino, sired Mam- 
brino Chief, the founder of the Mambrino trotting-family. 

Mambrino was a bay horse, foaled 1806, bred by Lewis Morris, of 
Westchester, New York, and was by Messenger, out of a daughter 
of imported Sour Crout. He never raced, and was so little valued that 
history loses trace of him for part of his career. He died in Dutchess 
County in or about 1831. He was a large, coarse, leggy horse, with 
well-defined trotting-action. 

His son Abdallah was bred by John Treadwell, Salisbury, Long 
Island, and was foaled in 1823, his dam being Amazonia, a trotting- 
mare of unknown blood. He was an unattractive rat-tailed horse, of 
vicious temper, and was little valued at any time. So lightly was 
he thought of in Orange County, so a writer states, that he wintered 
one year with no better shelter than the leeward side of a luxy-stack 
within sight of the spot where his son Hambletonian afterward lived 
in honor. Finally cast off, he was given to a Long Island farmer, 



338 TKAIXING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

who sold him to a fislierman for $35. The fisherman tried to harness- 
him, but age had not subdued his ungovernable spirit, and he re- 
belled with such violence that he was turned out and disa of neglect 
and famine on the sandy beach of Long Island. This was in 
November, 1854. He had trotted a mile in 3:10, it is stated as a four- 
year-old, and considering that he never was broken, that this was his 
natural gait, it must be conceded he had some gift of speed. 

Abdallah, as we have seen, got Kysdyk's Hambletonian out of the 
Charles Kent mare, by imported Bellfounder, a reputed Norfolk 
trotter, and the Kent mare's dam was One Eye, by Bishop's Hamble- 
tonian, son of Messenger. Besides this greatest of trotting progeni- 
tors, Abdallah got three trotters with records of 2:30 or better; many 
of his daughters produced trotters, and sires and dams of trotters, 
and others of his sons contributed in minor degrees to trotting- 
lines. 

Hambletonian was foaled in 1849, and was that year bought, with 
his dam, by William M. Rysdyk, of Chester, Orange County, New York, 
who owned him until he died. He was a bay horse of excellent 
structure, but very plain, the large head and Roman face especially 
rendering him objectionable to the eye of the lover of form. Mr. 
Rysdyk never was anxious to show the speed of his horse, but that 
he possessed fair trotting capacity abundant evidence from many Avit- 
nesses demonstrates. As a three-year-old he trotted in public in 2 :48, 
and, considering the time and circumstances, it marked him as a 
great natural trotter. This world-famous progenitor died March 27, 
1876. 

Nothing but the record-book of the trotting-turf — the Year-Book — 
suffices to adequately credit the Hambletonian family with all it has 
accomplished on the trotting-turf, biit to put the aggregate in brief 
form I may say that forty of the sons and daughters of Hambletonian 
have mile records ranging from the 2:17|^ of Dexter to the 2:30 of 
Lady Augusta; more than one hundred of Hambletonian's sons have 
sired, in the aggregate, upward of 600 trotters, with records from 
2:08f to 2:30, and about fifty of his daughters are the dams of trotters 
ranging in speed from 2:12^ to 2:30. Hambletonian's sons are 
Alexander's Abdallah, Aberdeen, Dictator, Edward Everett, Elec- 
tioneer, Egbert, George \Vilkes, Happy Medium, Harold, Jay Gould, 
Masterlode, Messenger Duroc, Middletown, Sentinel, Strathmore, 
Sweepstakes and Volunteer. These are not only great sires, but most 
of them the heads of great sub- families. To follow these several 



APPENDIX, 33^ 

lines downward througli successive generations with any degree of 
fullness would be wearisome to the reader and would involve an 
array of statistical tables not within the scope of this article. In 
general terms, however, it may be stated that the Hambletonian sub- 
families founded by Alexander's Abdallah, Electioneer, George 
Wilkes, Happy Medium, Harold and Volunteer are the most highly 
esteemed, because the most productive. Alexander's Al)dallah got 
Goldsmith Maid, 2:14, the greatest of campaigning mares, and he got 
Almont, one of the greatest trotting-sires of any age, and Belmont, 
little less noted, he having produced Nutwood, 2:18|, and Wedge- 
wood, 2:19, both renowned on the turf and in the stud. George 
Wilkes was a king on the turf in his day, and to-day holds higher 
rank as a trotting progenitor than any other horse, living or dead, if 
we except Hambletonian himself and his greatest son Electioneer. 

Mambrino Chief, the head of the family that ranks next to that of 
Hambletonian, was foaled in Dutchess County, Xew Yoik, in 1844, and 
was got by Mambrino Paymaster, son of Mambrino, from a mare 
whose blood lines are lost in the "mists of the West." Mambrino 
Chief was a fast trotter, and he got six trotters that made records of 
2:30 or better, the most renowned being the famous Lady Thorn, 
2:18^, and his sons and daughters are successful producers of trotters. 
His best sons were Woodford Mambrino, 2:21^, Clark Chief and 
Mambrino Patchen, brother to Lady Thorn. The blood of Mam- 
brino Chief, like that of the Clays, American Stars, and, it may be 
said, all other trotting branches, has reached its greatest triumphs 
when blended with that of Hambletonian and his sons and 
daughters. 

The Clay family of trotters Avas founded by Andrew Jackson, a 
trotter of high class in his day. He was a son of Young Bashaw, a 
Barb imported from Tripoli in 1820. Young Bashaw's dam was by 
the race-horse First Conpul, and his grandam was by Messenger. 
The dam of Andrew Jackson was a mare of unknown blood that, it 
is said, both trotted and paced. Andrew Jackson was foaled 1827, at 
Salem, New York, and died at Knightstown, Pennsylvania, in 1843. 
His most noted sons, as trotting-sires, were Henry Clay and Long 
Island Black Hawk, and some of his get were creditable performers. 
From Henry Clay we have the line of sires known through several 
generations by the name of Cassius M. Clay, and two other sons of 
Henry Clay, besides the original Cassius M. Clay, are known as trotters. 
Cassius M. Clay, First, got George M. Patchen, 2:25|, the most 



340 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

famous horse of tlie Clay line and the founder of the Patchen 
family. 

Other noted sires of the Clay line are Cassius M. Clay, 22; his son 
American Clay, Harry Clay, The Moor, and his son Sultan, etc. The 
dam of Old Henry Clay was Surrey, a Canadian trotting-mare of 
unknown blood. The whole Clay family has been charged with a 
lack of stamina, a charge unduly ])ressed and exaggerated, and some 
theorists imagine they find an explanation in the blood of Surrey. Be 
this as it may, Clay blood, as an auxiliary to Hambletonian strains, 
has produced the grandest results. Long Island Black Hawk was a 
trotter and a sire of some merit. The best line from him is through 
his grandson, the great Iowa horse, Green's Bashaw. The dam of 
Green's Bashaw was a half-sister to Rysdyk's Hambletonian, she 
being out of the Charles Kent mare by Bellfounder. 

The next noted family of trotters, the Black Hawks, frequently 
called Morgans, properly originated in Vermont Black Hawk, a horse 
whose breeding has never been satisfactorily established, and is still 
seriously qiiestioned. The generally accepted version is that he was 
got by Sherman Morgan, son of Justin Morgan, a pony-built horse 
of unknown blood, from whose loins came an excellent class of road- 
horses. The descendants of Justin Morgan had the showy, trappy 
gait, conformation and other characteristics that find their counterpart 
in certain Canadian families, and after duly weighing all the facts 
presented as to his history, I think the most reasonable conclusion is 
that he was of Canadian descent. 

Vermont Black Hawk, the true progenitor of the so-called Morgan 
family of trotters, was foaled in 1833, near Durham, New Hampshire, 
and, as I have said, is represented to be by Sherman Morgan. He 
was able to trot close to 2:40, but his reputed sire, if witnesses speak 
truly, " could not trot fast enough to go to mill." From Black Hawk 
comes the Ethan Allen family, the Gen. Knox family, and other less 
prominent lines. This trotting-line reaches its highest plane in the 
family of Daniel Lambert, son of Ethan Allen. Daniel Lambert 
must be ranked little inferior as a producer of speed to any horse that 
ever lived. His family has undoubtedly suffered through injudicious 
crosses. Had his blood been better reinforced with the Hambletonian 
strain, supplying certain essentials which in itself is lacking, better 
results would have been produced. It is important to note that 
Daniel Lambert's dam was a daughter of Abdallah, the sire of Rys- 
dyk's Hambletonian, and from this fact, coupled with the knowledge 



APPENDIX. 



341 



that lie is infinitely a better horse than his sire, and moreover, far 
better than any horse of his family, the reader can draw his own 
conclusions as to what influence his dam exerted in making him what 

he is. 

Now I have briefly outlined the four chief trotting-families— 
the Hambletonians, the ]Mambrino Chiefs, the Clays and the Black 
Hawks. Of course I have left innumerable minor lines untouched, 
but I cannot well complete a sketch of the principal elements enter- 
ing into the trotting-blood of to-day, without touching upon the 
groups of families of pacing origin. 

It is useless to discuss the origin of the pacing gait, for even as 
horses galloped and as horses trotted, so horses paced at a i)eriod 
" whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary." On the 
frieze of the Parthenon at Athens, the hand of the sculptor left time- 
defying evidence that the pacer was known in Greece when she was 
at the zenith of her glory, four hundred years before the Christian 
era. The bronze horses of Saint Marks in Venice were cast (probably 
about the beginning of the Christian era) in the pacing attitude. 
During the Roman regime in Britain, we are told that the ambulatara 
was "perhaps the universal and traveling pace of the Romans." 
Fitz Stephen, a monk of Canterlniry, writing in the twelfth century, 
tells us that at Smithfield, then a suburb of London, on Fridays 
"shows were held of well-bred horses exposed for sale," and he adds 
that it was "pleasant to see the nags, with their smooth and shiny 
coats, smoothly ambling along." In 1558, Master Blundeville, one of 
the early English writers on the horse, said : ' ' Some men have a breed 
of great horses, meete for the warre and to serve in the field; others 
breed aml)ling horses of mean stature for the journey, and to travel 
by the way. Some againe, a race of swift runners to run for wagers," 
etc. In the reign of Charles II a great impetus was given to racing, 
and continual importations of Eastern blood flowed into England. 
The race-horse was forming as a breed, and took the first place in 
the affections of Englishmen. Before the overwhelming tides of 
desert blood the pacer gradually became extinct in England, until 
John Lawrence tells us, in 1809, that "the people have lost all 
remembrance of the amble." Indeed, it is the popular belief, 
wholly untenable, however, that the pacer never was known to exist 
in England. At the time of the founding of the American colonies, 
the pacer was at least popular, if not esteemed patrician, as in the 
early days ; and as the horse-stock of the colonies came chiefly from 



34:2 TRAINING TIIK TK(»'1TIN(; HORSE. 

England, I think it is beyond question tlaat in those inijjortations 
came the ancestors of the American and Canadian pacer. The horses 
of Khode Island, known as " Narragansett pacers," attained wide 
celebrity in the seventeenth century, and the pacer was the race- 
horse of the Khode Islanders and Virginians of the olden times. They 
were one of the great staple products of Rhode Island at that day, 
and were largely exported. But in time, as the colonies grew in 
wealth, the i)acer was scattered and crowded out by larger, better 
horses, a race more acceptably suiting the recjuirementsof the people. 

The names of the families of pacing origin most frequently en- 
countered in the choice blood-lines of our modern trotters are the 
Pilots, the Blue Bulls, the Columbuses, the Hiatogas, the Copper- 
bottoms, etc. 

The originator of the Pilot family was a black pacing-horse that, 
according to tradition and tradition only, came from Canada, and was 
probably foaled in 1826. He is famous as the sire of Pilot Jr., a grey 
horse of much merit as a trotter and sire of ti'otters. The blood of 
his dam is unknown. He evinced the rare power to get trotters out 
of running-mares, and two of his fastest and best were out of mares 
so bred. Though he sired nine trotters with records ranging from 
2:24 to 2.30, and although some of his sons, notably Bayard and 
Tattler, have proved successful sires, it is through the triumphs of 
his daughters as brood-mares that he is most esteemed. They are 
great speed-producers, among the produce of Pilot Jr. mares being 
Maud S., 2Mh and Jay-Eye-See, 2:10. 

The marvelous pacing-horse Blue Bull is the phenomenon of trot- 
ting-horse history. " A plebeian of the plebeians," got by a horse on 
whom the atrocious name the family bears was bestowed as a mark 
of opprobium, a cripple with not a line of distinguished blood to 
lend him worth, from ignominious uses he rose in his day, by sheer 
force of merit, to the front rank of trotting-sires. This remarkable 
horse was foaled in Switzerland County, Indiana, in 1854, and died at 
Rushville, Indiana, in 1880. He was wonderfully fast at the pacing- 
gait, and even after being crippled could show great flights of speed. 
For several recent years he has figured as the sire of more trotters 
than any horse that ever lived, and it was only during 1887 that that 
honor passed from him to George Wilkes. Over fifty of his get have 
records ranging from 2'17i to 2:30. At present, while we can rank 
Blue Bull as a ^'ery great sire of speed, I am not very sanguine that 
the future will rank him a great progenitor. His own lack of breed- 



APl'KNDIX. 843 

ing and the lack of breeding in the marcs to wliich he was bred are 
against the cluinces of his tribe taking high rank as a family. 

Of the other i)acing-iamilie.s mentioned, the Cohimbuses are of 
Canadian origin. The original Columbus came from a town in the 
Province of Quebec "thirty or forty miles below Montreal." From 
this same mysterious region came St. Lawrence, another Canadian 
trotting-sire, and to the blood of that district is traced lines in many 
of our famous trotters. 

The Hiatoga family traces to early Virginia ])acing ancestry. The 
first noted horse of the line was taken to ^'airfield County, Ohio, 
about 1840, is known as Rice's Hiatoga, and from him the trotting- 
family of this name is descended. The Cojjperbottoms, a noted 
pacing-family that figure in many trotting jjedigrees, were, like the 
Columbuses, and probably the Pilots, it is l)eliev('d, of Canadian 
origin. The original was, according to the Trotting Register, taken 
from Canada to Kentucky in 1812. 

Another Canadian family that may or may not have been of kindred 
blood to those just named, but a family far superior to any other of 
Canadian origin, is that bearing the name of Royal George. The 
founder of this line was Tippoo, a horse whose blood is unknown. 
Tippoo's son, Black Warrior, got Royal George, and from this line a 
really good trotting-family has been produced. 

A tril^e that has held a foremost place in turf history as a cross for 
Hambletonian blood was that of American Star, a horse that 
flourished i)revious to and in the early part of the career of Rysdyk's 
Haml)letonian. The pedigree of this horse is extremely doubtful, 
but he was a trotter of some merit. From great numbers of his 
daughters bred to Hambletonian, a goodly proportion of trotters came, 
but the family lacked the capacity to transmit speed potently from 
generation to generation, and its only standing, as a trotting line, 
rests upon what Hambletonian accomplished from its daughters. 

I have traced at some length the foundation lines of blood from 
which the trotters of to-day are bred, and every well-bred trotter of 
this generation traces directly to one or more of these families. 

Just when racing, at either the running, the trotting, or the pacing 
gait Ijegan in America is difficult to determine. It is reasonably cer- 
tain that j)acers were bred for speed and raced, notably in Rhode 
Island, in the last decades of the seventeenth century. Pacing races 
were held in and about Philadelphia, and were indulged in between 
the gentry of Rhode Island and Virginia early in the eighteenth 



344: TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 

century. Tlie first running races of wliicli we have any trace in 
history were established by Governor Nicholls, and were held on 
Hempstead Heath, Long Island. In 1665, he established a race-course 
here, and ordered that a plate should be run for every year. (Be it 
remembered that there were no thoroughbreds in those days; Fear- 
naught and Jolly Roger, the best of the early importations of English 
thoroughbreds, did not see America for nearly or quite a hundred 
years after this, and they were among the first to come.) We find 
that, in 1669, Governor Lovelace, who succeeded Governor Nicholls, 
ordered races to be run on Hempstead Heath, but from that year to 
1736 history, as to racing here, is silent. After this, racing at proba- 
bly all gaits flourished until it seems to have become an evil. " There 
was no end," says one historian, "to scrub and pace- racing in all 
parts of the middle and southern colonies, and particularly on the 
good and shaded roads of Manhattan Island." In 1774, the Conti- 
nental Congress, by resolution, practically forbid horse-racing; and, 
in 1748, the Legislature of New Jersey enacted a law restraining all 
" running, pacing and trotting- races." 

The first recorded trotting performance in America was that of 
Yankee, at Harlem, New York, July 6, 1806. The time of the mile was 
2:50, but the track was not a full mile. At Philadelphia, August, 
1810, a "Boston horse" trotted the mile to harness in 2:48|, but the 
next best performance I find is in 1818, and then the time is only 
3:00. To estimate the progress in speed made by the trotter in con- 
sequence of his being bred for his special purpose we must approxi- 
mate his extreme speed at the beginning of the founding of the 
breed. If we take for granted that Yankee cotild trot in 3:00 in 
1806, in contrast with the 2:08f of Maud S. in 1885, we have a dif- 
ference of 0:51:^- in seventy-nine years. But it would be erroneous to 
conclude that the extreme speed capacity of the trotter of to-day is 
0:50 to the mile over that of the trotter of eighty years ago. 
Improved tracks, appliances and methods have accomplished much. 
If we could approximate just how much of the improvement in speed 
is due to the improved tracks, appliances and methods, we could then 
give to improved blood its share of credit. Guarding, then, against 
the error of giving all the honor to superiority of blood, let us 
note, step by step, the impro-vement in the extreme speed of the 
trotter. 

From the performances above noted I think it fair to approximate 
the extreme speed of the trotter previous to 1820, at 2:50 to the mile, 



APPENDIX. 345 

in liarness. From that date recorded performances are plentiful, and 
fnrniKli us a safe guide. In 1829, Topgallant went three miles in 
8:11, and this sustained speed at the rate of 2:43| is certainly better 
than a mile in 2:40. In 1834, the black gelding, Edwin Forrest, 
went a mile under the saddle in 2:31^; in 1839, Drover paced in 2:28. 
In 1844, Lady Suffolk trotted, under saddle, in 2:264, in the same 
vear Unknown paced to wagon in 2:28. In the next decade Flora 
Temple trotted in 2:19f, and in the next decade the marvelous pacing 
mare Pocahontas went the mile, to harness, in 2:17^. The stars of 
the following decade were Dexter, 2:17|, by Hambletonian, and Lady 
Thorn, 2:18^, by Mambrino Chief. In the next period. Goldsmith 
Maid, 2:14, by Alexander's Abdallah; Hopeful, 2:14f, by Godfrey 
Patchen; Karus, 2:13^, by Conklin's Abdallah, and Lula, 2:15, by 
Alexander's Norman, represented the limits of trotting speed. St. 
Julien, by Volunteer, trotted in 2:12f in 1879, but reached his limit,. 
2:11|:, the following year. In 1884, Jay-Eye-See, by Dictator, full 
l)rother to Dexter, astonished the world by trotting the mile in 2:10, 
l)ut the next year Maud S., by trotting in 2:08|, set a mark of speed 
in harness not since approached. The pacer Johnston, by doing the- 
same task in 2:06J, demonstrated that the lateral gait is still the 
fastest, and in the past year, 1889, the wonderful performances of the 
three-year-old stars, Sunol, by Electioneer, and Axtell, by William 
L., son of George Wilkes, show that progress does not lag. Sunol 
trotted in 2:10|, and Axtell in 2:12. Besides these we have Guy, 
trotting in 1889 in 2:10|, and Stamboul and Palo Alto each in 2:12^. 

But we have been dealing in the performances of phenomenal ani- 
mals. I will now, by taking the average of the five fastest perform- 
ances for each decade since 1820, show what may fairly be called the 
extreme speed of the trotting-horse, and his gradual gain in speed 
since the beginning of fast trotting. 

AVERAGE EXTREME SPEED. 

1820 to 1830 2:42 

1830 to 1840 2 •35ir 

1840 to 1850 2:28i 

1850 to 1860 , 2:25 

1860 to 1870 2 :18f 

1870 to 1880 2:14 

1880 to 1889 2:10i 



3i6 TRAINING THE TKOTTING HORSE. 

The question as to wliat rate of sjieed the trotter will ultimately 
attain has been mucli discussed, and some have assumed to fix the 
limit. This is the merest speculation. A concensus of the public 
•opinion of horsemen in 1860 would liave fixed the limit of the 
trotter's speed at Flora Temple's mark. When Ethan Allen, har- 
nessed with a runner, went a mile in 2:15 men thought it would 
liever be equaled, and the popular feeling certainly was that no liorse 
could do it alone. Only a little over twenty years ago it was timidly 
that Hiram Woodruff ventured the forecast that Dexter would beat 
Flora Temple's record, but to-day a gap of eleven seconds is open 
lietween Flora Temple's record and that of Maud S., and upward of 
one hundred and forty horses have surpassed Flora's performances. 
In view of the fact that the trotting-breed is yet in its infancy, and 
that the average of extreme trotting speed is steadily advancing 
toward two minutes, it would be rather absurd to venture to fix a 
limit and a time when progress will suddenly cease. Of course im- 
l)rovement in speed becomes more difficult as the rate increases, but 
it will be noticed that the advance toward the two^minute goal has 
been just as great in the past decade as it was in the slower decade 
that preceded it. Both trotters and pacers have actually trotted frac- 
tions of miles at a two-minute gait, and I see no reason to doubt that 
the trotter will yet be bred that can sustain that rate for a mile. But 
no horse, thorouglibred or trotter, can sustain for a mile the speed 'he 
can show for a quarter of a mile, and when we see the two-minute 
trotter he will be a horse capable of trotting a quarter of a mile in 
from twenty-six to twenty-eight seconds. 

Whatever may be the views of the reader as to the other infiiiences 
of the trotting-track, he must admit that it has been the chief agency 
in bringing the American light-harness horse to that point of excel- 
lence which he has now reached. The love of the turf is deeply 
rooted in America as well as in England, and I think this devotion to 
"the sport of kings" is greatly due to the knowledge that the im- 
provement of the higher kinds of horses depends mainly upon turf 
tests. " It is certain," says an old English writer, "that horse-racing 
was the means of converting the old lumbering horse of this country 
into the elegant, graceful and pre-eminently fleet animal of . . . 
the present century." 

The value of the trotting-bred horse has been constantly on the 
increase, until now the breeding business is a vast interest to which 
unlimited capital is devoted. That the trotter should be in America a 



APPENDIX. 



347 



ludve valued breed than liis bn.tlier aristocrat, tlie tliorou^libred, is 
natural. If tlie thoroughbred race-horse fails to develop the speed, 
stamina and disposition necessary to success on the turf he is almost 
worthless. He is a good racing-machine or he is nothing. But, on 
the other hand, the trotter, even if he lacks the capacities to success 
on the turf, is still, if bred wisely, valuable. For the family car- 
riage, for the park, his versatile gifts make him profitable, even 
tho'iigh he fails on the turf. Very seldom has a better lest of the 
relative value of trotting and running (or thoroughbred) horses been 
offered than in October, 1886, when two great breeding-studs, one of 
thoroughbred and the other of trotting-horses, were dispersed under 
the hammer. At Louisville, Kentucky, the late John C. McFerran 
had founded and established the Glenview Stud, which rose to the 
front rank of "nurseries of trotters." At Jobstown, New Jersey, 
Mr. Pierre Lorillard's Rancocas Stud of thoroughbreds, the choicest 
in the land, is situated. Dispersal sales were held of these famous 
collections within a few days of each other, and the following 
averages were realized: 

EANCOCAS THOROUGHBKEDS. 

Average for stallions ^J'foS'S? 

Average for brood-mares iA'^^-'^' 

Grand average for stallions and brood-mares, . . $1,721.63 

GLENVIEW TROTTERS. 

Average for stallions ^^H-sSn 

Average for brood-mares i.,^io.y}v 

Grand average for stallions and brood-mares. . . $3,238.75 
This was a fair test in 1886, but it does not represent the monetary 
supremacy of the trotter now. for it is an absolutely safe assertion to 
make that the value of choice trotting-blood has appreciated twenty- 
five per cent, in the past three years. A trotting-stallion, Axtell, ha? 
sold for $103,000; Bell Boy sold at auction for $51,000, and Stamboul 
at private sale for $50,000. These prices for trotting-stallions repre- 
sent the highest values ever reached by horses of any type in America. 
In this sketch the writer has avoided minute treatment of either 
families or individual horses, or, indeed, any of the details of the 
subject, his purpose being merely to sketch in a general way, the 
foundation, evolution, and progress of the trotting-bred horse. 

Leslie E. Macleod. 



INDEX 



Abe Edgington. .96, 97, 98, 99, 

100, 110, 111 

Action 309 

Advantages of Miniature Track, 

209, 210 

Albert France 160, 161 

Alcazar 104 

Alert 159 

Amount of Work 222 

Annette 310 

Ansel 172 

Anselma 114 

Arol 104 

Astral 104 

August Haverstick 104, 147 

Axtell 163. 180 

Azmoor 172 

Babcock, F. G 79 

Balancing and Checking. .217, 

218, 219 

BavRose 162 

Beautiful Bells 122 

Bell Boy 170 

Belle Brasfield 110, 111 

Belle Hamlin 103, 144, 145 

Belmont Family 328 

Benefit of Early Work. . .230, 

231, 232, 233 

Ben Hur 104 

Bentonian 115 

Bermuda 104, 170 

Between Heats 290, 291 

Bitting 213 

Blanchard, David H 46, 48 

Blankets 261 

Blistering 302 

Bodine.., 55, 62, 63, 73, 74 

Bodv-Wash 258 

Bonita. ...,101, 102, 120, 121, 122 

Boots 263, 264, 265 

Bt&u 252 



" Break and Catch " 235 

Break-Down 300 

Breaking to Harness. .212, 213, 

214, 215 

Breeding 308 

Broken-Down Trotters 299 

Brood - Mares, Form, Action 

and Size 310 

Brown, Horace 160 

Browne, S. A 170 

Brushing 224 

Burr, Carl 113 

C«sar 23 

California Climate 254, 255 

California Grasses 255, 256 

Campaign of 1885 102 

Campaign of 1886 103 

Campaign of 1887 104 

Capt. Smith 101, 111, 112 

Carrie C 101, 102, 103, 172 

Care with the Mouth 234, 286 

Carlisle 104 

Castalia 104, 169 

Cavalry Service 20 

Checking and Balancing.. 21 7, 218 

Charley Hogan 160, 161 

Chimes. . . .102, 103, 141, 170, 171 

Clay (gelding) 101, 112 

Clay (stallion) 227 

Clay, C. F 159, 160 

Cleveland, Great Race 54-72 

Clifton Bell 104, 172 

Climatic Conditions 238 

Cling.stone 151 

Col. Bowers 156 

Col. Lewis 100 

Com. Perry 45 

Condition 245, 246 

Condition and Speed 283 

Conley, Col. John W 148 

Converting Snmggler 36 



350 



INDEX. 



Cooling Out 291 

Cracked Food 252 

Cracked Heels 302 

Curb 301 

Dame Winnie 154, 310 

Daily Programme in Training. 257 

Deck Wright 104, 159 

Defiance 110 

Del Mar 104 

Del Sur 101, 111, 112 

Dexter 63 

Distemper 304 

Doble, Budd. . . .51, 52, 55, 57. 
61, 62, 63, 65, 68, 76, 109, 

110, 160 

Doc. 108 

Driving. 294, 295, 296, 297 

Driving with a Watch 283 

Eagle Bird. .103, 136, 137, 139, 

140, 148, 149, 150 
Earlv Experiences in Training, 

30, 31 
Early Training. .182, 183, 184 

185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191 

Easv Driving 235 

Elaine 100, 112, 113, 114, 299 

Electioneer.. 81, 91, 99, 100, 

319, 320, 321, 322, 323, 324, 

325, 326 

Elvira 102, 167 

Emaline 104 

Endymion 169 

Express 104 

Fanny Witherspoon 282 

Fasig, W. B...... 171 

Feeding. 251 

Feeding Colts 211 

Feet, Care of. 268 

First Lessons 201, 202 

First Trotter ', 23 

Fleetv Golddust 44 

Flooring 250 

Foal, Treatment of the 193 

Foot, Anatomy of .'.272, 273, 274 

Form 309 

Fortuna 177 

Frank Middleton. 156 



Four-year-old Record Lowered, 

122, 146 

Fred Crocker. 100, 115, 119 

Fred Low 112 

Fuller, George. .136, 148, 149, 

150, 152, 306 
Fugue 124, 126, 168 

Geneva 1 69 

Gen. Benton. .81, 89, 91, 100, 326 

Gen. Buford 68 

George M. Patchen Jr 328 ' 

Gertrude Russell 172 

Goldsmith Maid.. 53, 55, 56, 
57, 62, 63, 64, 66, 69, 70, 71, 

73, 75, 109, 296 

Gould, Levi S 173 

Granby 139 

Graves 101 

Great Eastern 79 

Great Race at Cleveland. . . .54, 73 
(ireenlander..l36, 139, 146. 147 
Green, Chas. ... 44, 55, 57, 61, 63 
Ground Food 253 

Halter-Breaking 195 

Hamlin, C. J 41, 171, 172 

Harry C 169 

Harry Roberts , . . .159, 160 

Helen , 168 

Henry W. Genet 46, 47 

Herzog 68 

Ilickok, Orrin 178 

Hinda Rose... 101, 102, 103, 
119, 122, 123, 124, 125, 141. 

168, 226 

Hoods 261 

Hopeful 79 

Horses in Motion 94, 95 

Houston, J. B. 171 

Imitators 223 

Injuries and Ailments 298 

Iodine .300, 301 

Jay-Eye-See , 103 

Joe Brown 40 

Judge Fullerton..51, 52, 53, 
54, 55, 56, 60, 61, 63, 64, 66, 
69, 70, 71, 73, 74, 78, 100, 110- 



INDEX. 



>1 



Jolinston, Peter V 55 

J udgment of Pace 295 

Lady St. Clair 108 

Lathrop, Ariel 93 

Laying Up Heats . . .292, 293, 294 

Leading 196 

Leading with a Runner. .207, 20H 

Legs, Care of 259, 269, 270 

Leg Wash 269 

Liijby S 160 

Light Shoes 280 

Lillian Wilkes 179 

Lily Stanley 1 68 

Lorita '. 104 

Lucille Golddust. . . .55, 56, 57, 

61, 63, 64, 66, 69, 70, 73, 74 
Lucv Fry 103, 156, 



157 

159 

, 74 
139 
172 
111 
, 50 



Mabel A 

]\Iace, Dan. . .46, 55, 60, 61, 63 

McKinnev, H. D 

Maiden .' • 104, 

Maid of Clav 101, 

Mambrino Gift. .40, 41, 46, 47 

Manzanita 102, 103, 104, 

132, 183, 134, 135, 136. 137, 
138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 
144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 

150, 151, 152, 153, 301 

Manzanita-Patron Race 147 

Margaret S 177, 179 

Marvin, Chas., Biography. .17, 27 

Ivlarvin, Mrs. Charles 25 

Maybell 134 

May Flower, Dam of Manzan- 
ita 133, 134, 310 

Mav FIv, Dam of Bonita. .121, 310 

Mav Queen 310 

Miniature Track. .197,198,199,200 

MissRu!5sell 104 

Mohav.'k Chief 89, 90, 100 

Moor, The 328 

Muzzles 201 



Natural Gift, The Trainer's. . .223 

Nellie Benton 102 

Ne])hew 327 

Nettie 36, 50 

Norlalne 114. 128, 165, 166 



Norval 166. 167 

Nutbreaker 103, 104, 169, 17») 

Nutwood 101 , 329 

Occident 96, 97. 98. 99, 100, 

101, 108, 109, 110, 111, 299 
Old Methods of Training. . 183, 184 

Overbreeding 317 

Overdoing It 243 

Overwork 217 

Palo Alto, The Stallion. . . .102, 
103, 104, 132, 141, 143, 154, 
155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 

161, 162, 299 

Palo Alto System Outlined 96 

Palo Alto Farm 81, 89, 92, 93 

Patron 104. 126, 132, 137,' 

139, 140, 141, 147, 148, 149, 

150, 151 

Pedlar 104 

Phil Sheridan 47 

Piedmont 326 

Pilot Temple 40 

Preparation for Races.. 280, 281, 284 

Pride 123 

Princeton 103 

Pulling and Side-Pulling 236 

Quantrill's Raid 20 

Quarter Crack 305 

"Quitters" 137,138, 139 

Race-Day 288 

Races, Management in. . . .289, 

290, 291, 292, 293, 294 

Racing in the Army 21, 22 

Rarus .' 296 

Reasons for Writing. - 29 

Reffulating Work 224 

Resford ...102, 104, 172 

Richmond, A. W 329 

Rubbers 262 

Rubbing and Cooling 258 

Russell, Col. H. S. . . .39, 42, 

43. 46, 48, 49, 55, 78, 79 

Saint Bel. . . .102, 103, 104, 127, 

128, 129, 130, 131, 141 
Saint Clair 108, 120, 121, 327 



352 



INDEX. 



Saint Julien 

Sale of Smuggler 

Sallie Benton. . . .102, 126, 167 
168, 

Sam Purdy 

Santa Claus 113, 

Severe Checks and Bits 

Shoeing. . . 272. 273, 274, 275 
276, 277, 

Sheppard, Dr , 

Sibley, J. C 

Side-Pulling 236, 

Size in Brood-Mares 

Silverone 136, 137, 139, 

Smuggler 32-80, 

Soaking 270, 

Sontag Mohawk 90, 

So So 

Speed, Speed, More Speed. . . . 

Speed and Gameness 

Sphinx 102, 103, 104, 

Splan, John 282, 

Splints 

Sj)ort 

Sprung Tendons 

Stables and Stabling 

Stallion-Race at Boston 

Stallion-Race at Buffalo 

Stallion Record Lowered 

Stallions, Form and Action in.. 

Stamboul 

Stanford, Hon. Leland 81, 

82, 83, 84, 85, 86. 87, 88. 89, 
90, 96, 97, 98, 99, 110, 

Stanford, Leland, Jr 

"S. T. H." 

Sweating and Scraping Colts. . 

Sweetheart 

Sudie D 123, 

Suisun. ...103, 104, 141, 170, 

Sunol ...104, 172, 173, 174, 

175, 176. 177, 178, 179, 

Sutherland & Benjamin 



152 
39 



299 

109 
114 

281 

278 
155 
129 
237 
310 
140 
299 
271 
310 
115 
225 
240 
169 
296 
307 
104 
307 
248 
46 
40 
53 
310 
163 



173 
102 
61 
221 
116 
164 
171 

180 
170 



Tempest 104 

Tender Feet 306 

Thomas Jefferson.. 40, 42, 46, 47,50 
Thoroughbreds at Palo Alto. . 92 
Thoroughbred - Blood in the. 
Trotter 311 



Three- Year-Old Record Low- 
ered 125, 126 

Three- Year-Old, Working the, 

239, 240, 241 

Thrush 305 

Toe-Weights 226, 227, 266, 267 

Tom Rogers 159 

Tracks 279, 280 

Track- Work, Beginning.. 216, 220 
Training for a Race.. 284, 2H5, 286 

Training Paddock 197, 198, 

199, 200 
Trial Days for Brood-Mares, 

315, 316 
Trotting - Horse, History of 

the ".....331 

Time of Breeding 314, 315 

Turner, J. E 171 

Two - Year - Old Record Low- 
ered.... 116, 117, 119, 177, 

178, 180 

Van Ness, Frank 160, 161 

Ventilation and Light. . . ... .250 

Vermont Abdallah 47 

Versailles 68 

Vesolia 177 

Victor 103, 156 

Visit to Palo Alto 81 

Wallace, J. H 173, 174 

Water 253, 254 

Waxana 174 

Waxy 173 

Weaving .'*. 193 

Weight 228, 229 

\N'ellesley Boy 45 

Whip, Use and Abuse of 235 

Whitestockings 21 

Wildliower. ...101, 102, 118, 

119, 120 

Wild Rake 170 

Wilton 103, 156, 157, 158 

Wilson, W. H 79 

Woodruff, Hiram 182, 183 

Work, Amount of 242 

Working in Paddock. .. .204, 

205, 206, 211 

Yearling Record Lowered. . . .123 



c 



y 



>:.. v^^ 












'^.. v-^ 






,5 --c. 









V^' 






^„^ 



o 0' 






'X'' * 






■0' 






CP- 'a, .0" ' O H , n^ \ 



.^:^'% 



,0 o 






"^^ V^ 



^-^ -^c*-. 






x^' '^^ 



.<^ ''>. 



0> s^V,'x, 'c. 



'.• .<^' 






^-* ' ' ^ 












V 



'^. C^'^ ''-^^ ^ % 

















K^^.. 


' * , 


, ''■^>- 





Ci 


0^ 






f 




%/ 


f ■% 






^'\ 


■ "'•^^ 


"-^J^ 


-./ 
S ■ 








c 0' 






,<>^ "i.. 






\^ '-"-<• o^ •<. 



>"■ A^^■ '^^K ' *v, ^'^ ^^~^- 



